World Press Freedom Day 2009

Although the official theme of this year's World Press Freedom Day is "media and dialogue," it should really be "resilience." The courage of many of my colleagues who risk their lives to tell the story never ceases to amaze me.

From World Association of Newspapers:

Moussa Kaka, the director of the private radio station Saraouniya Radio talks about his coverage of the Niger Justice Movement that led to a one-year imprisonment. Mohammad Al-Al Abdallah, a 26-year old Syrian blogger, reveals his family hardships that have arisen from the fight for press freedom. In Yemen, Abdel Karim Al-Khaiwani, talks about spending a year behind bars for his reportage on high-level corruption, nepotism, and human rights abuses. Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque discusses the long battle she has faced for her investigative reporting. Barry Bearak of The New York Times describes his arrest, detention and expulsion from Zimbabwe for trying to report from the country during the last elections.

This year, we should also keep in mind freelance reporter Roxana Saberi who was recently convicted in Iran for spying, and Current TV correspondents Laura Ling and Euna Lee still being detained in North Korea for entering the country illegally.