Media advisory

VIENNA, 27 February 2008 - The Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM), Miklos Haraszti, is hosting an experts' panel on Friday to discuss the future challenges to freedom of the media and freedom of expression in the OSCE area.

The event, which is supported by the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship, marks the tenth anniversary of the RFOM Office.

Plantu, the editorial cartoonist of French daily newspaper Le Monde, will present a cartoon show and discuss the role and responsibility of cartoonists in societies.

Noted media freedom experts taking part include: Karin Clark, Chair of Writers in Prison Committee, London; Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights Commissioner, Council of Europe; Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow, Privacy International, London; Oleg Panfilov, Head of the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situation, Moscow; Alexey Simonov, Chairman of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, Moscow.

Haraszti will lead the discussions, with Freimut Duve, the former OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Pertti Torstila, Secretary of State of the Finnish Foreign Ministry and Reino Paasilinna, a Finnish member of the European Parliament, also participating.

Journalists on the panel include Konstanty Gebert, Columnist and Foreign Correspondent, Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw and Firdevs Robinson, Editor of the BBC World Service's Central Asia & Caucasus Service.

Journalists are invited to attend the event from 10.00 to 16.00 on Friday, 29 February, in the Neuer Saal at the Hofburg Congress Centre. Journalists will have the opportunity to interview the speakers during the lunch break from 12.30 to 13.30.

For admittance to the Hofburg Conference Centre, please bring your OSCE badge or a valid press card to the security desk (main entrance from the Heldenplatz). Parking is available for the press during the event in the OSCE-reserved parking area on Heldenplatz. Temporary parking permits must be collected from the security desk.

Backgrounds documents can be found at: http://www.osce.org/item/29850.html