Written by Aisha Javaid.
The opening ceremony of the 2016 IPI World Congress in Doha, Qatar was a sight to behold. The ceremony kicked off what will be a three-day conference hosted in partnership with Al Jazeera and IPI. The program, titled “Journalism at Risk,” will see journalists from all over the world taking part in seminars, panels and workshops. This year’s theme addresses safety and professionalism in a dangerous world.
“Journalists are people’s eyes on the news,” said Master of Ceremonies Khadija Bengana, principal presenter of the Al Jazeera Media Network.
Following a brief introduction, Bengana introduced the first speaker of the night: Acting Director General of the Al Jazeera Media Network Mostefa Souag.
“Every day, journalists deal with dangers that threaten them, their families and their acquaintances,” Souag said, speaking in Arabic.
The dangers Souag noted were many, ranging from violence and injury, to imprisonment, to death.
“We have lost dear colleagues who paid with their lives for the truth and the dignity of the profession,” Souag said, adding that it was important to fight for justice for those fallen journalists. “Despite the dangers, we need to continue to pursue the truth”
Afterward, John Yearwood, IPI chairman and world editor for the Miami Herald, spoke about all the progress that IPI has made in the past few years. These achievements include advocating for the freedom of various journalists across the world, including Syria’s Mazen Darwish and the Al Jazeera staffers imprisoned in Egypt. Yearwood also cited IPI’s campaign against digital attacks on journalists, which, he notes, has garnered support from more than 80 media companies worldwide. Yearwood also noted that last year, IPI partnered with Al-Jazeera, as well as several other media organizations, to create the International Declaration of Best Practices on the Promotion of Journalist Safety, which is intended to help protect journalists’ rights.
Closing out the opening ceremony, Barbara Triofini. executive director of IPI, took to the stage. When IPI first started planning its World Congress two years ago, Trionfi said, the institute had a vision for the Doha conference.
“We insisted first of all that the conference should be open to any journalist who wanted to attend,” she said. “We wanted our speakers to be provocative and force the audience to open their minds to new ideas.”
Trionfi went on to discuss the institute’s aim of bringing about increased press freedom and freedom of expression through its work. She also congratulated Qatar for the Emir’s pardoning of Qatari poet Mohammed Al-Ajami, who had been serving out a 15-year sentence since his arrest in 2011 on charges of insulting the Emir in one of his poems.
“In congratulating Qatar on this very important decision,” Trionfi said. “I want to say how happy I am to be here at this moment.”