His Majesty, King Felipe VI of Spain, will attend WAN-IFRA’s World News Media Congress in Zaragoza this week, delivering a speech during the Golden Pen of Freedom 2022 ceremony. The accolade represents WAN-IFRA’s highest honour, and is awarded to an individual, group, or institution in recognition of an outstanding action in writing or in the cause of press freedom.
The annual congress, which draws together the world’s press, is organised by WAN-IFRA (the World Association of News Publishers), whose objective is to protect the rights of journalists and publishers around the world to operate independent media.
The King and Queen of Spain, Felipe and Letizia, are Honorary Presidents of this event, bringing together more than 1,000 publishers, journalists and industry executives from 75 countries and six continents.
Over three days, more than 100 speakers from leading news organisations will reflect on the journalistic industry, its strategies and the solutions adopted to make the media sustainable. The program includes dozens of round tables and three outstanding fora such as the World Summit of Media Leaders, the World Editors Summit and the Women in News Summit.
The CEO of WAN-IFRA, Vincent Peyrègne, said that this Congress comes at a critical moment. “As we face unprecedented challenges, solidarity and support are needed to defend press freedom and to ensure independent journalism and the media can continue to play their key role in society.”
World News Day to be marked on Wednesday
As the Congress begins on Wednesday 28th September, World News Day will be commemorated across six continents, among newsrooms of all sizes – from the Financial Times (worldwide), The Globe and Mail (Canada), and The Straits Times (Singapore) in the Northern Hemisphere, to LA NACION (Argentina), News24 (South Africa), and Stuff (New Zealand) in the South.
The campaign will see global newsrooms carry print and digital advertising – as well as leveraging their social channels – to highlight the critical message that journalism matters and is worth supporting, promoting and defending.
The occasion will also be the focus of a 90-minute live-streamed in-person event from The World News Media Congress itself, with speakers from around the global industry. You can find out more about the World News Media Congress and World News Media Day here.
