The Taipei Newspaper Association in Taiwan has joined the World Association
of Newspapers, which now groups 77 national newspaper associations and
18,000 newspapers world-wide.
The TNA, which plays an important role in the Chinese language newspaper
society far beyond Taiwan's borders, was admitted Saturday at a meeting of
the WAN Board in Cape Town, South Africa, on the eve of the World Newspaper
Congress and World Editors Forum, the global meeting's of the world's press.
"We are delighted to welcome Taiwan's newspapers to the global newspaper
community represented by WAN," said Timothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer
of the Paris-based WAN. "The TNA is dedicated to press freedom as a guiding
principle, in stark contrast to the situation in most of the Chinese
newspaper world. The TNA will now have full access to the world newspaper
community through its membership in WAN, and we hope their example won't be
lost on the authorities in Beijing."
Defending and promoting press freedom is a condition of membership in WAN, a
federation of national newspaper associations. The Chinese Newspaper
Association on the mainland is not a member.
The TNA, which was established in 1950, is an independent organisation
without any political or governmental affiliations and works toward
protecting its members constitutional rights of free speech and publication.
TNA has 18 member newspapers.
The association and its members also play an important role in the Chinese
language newspaper society, which includes Hong Kong, Singapore, China and
many countries with significant Chinese communities.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000
newspapers; its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations,
newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12
news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy
St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49
48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: [email protected]
