Press conclave to focus on Government attempts to muzzle media

Santo Domingo.- When the Inter American Press Association(IAPA) opens its 72nd mid-year meeting in Punta Cana (east) on Thursday,it will be ready to denounce the tactics which states and governments in LatinAmerica use to create their own media to capitalize from, and dole out publicinformation.

It also aims to disclose "all forms of legalcensorship and economic constraints that prevent the media from conducting afree press," said executive director Ricardo Trotti, interviewed by newspaperListin Diario editor-in-chief Miguel Franjul.

Trotti who’s in Punta Cana preparing the meeting, said in additionto the acts of violence and impunity in Latin America, 12 journalists have alsobeen killed during the last six months.

“The panorama of violence and other attacks on the freepress and the trend towards concentration of media, especially with representativesfrom governments and states, will be debated at length during the meeting the PressFreedom Committee on Saturday.

President Danilo Medina is slated to head the officialopening of the meeting with a speech, after which he’ll sign the Declaration ofChapultepec, the set of principles and respect of a free and independent pressin the continent.