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World Editors unite behind #CHARLIEHEBDO

The World Editors Forum is seeking and curating messages of support for the victims and survivors of the Charlie Hebdo newsroom massacre which has shaken Paris and the global journalism community.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | January 9, 2015

“This week’s terrorist attack in France must be matched by defending liberty. It’s as simple as that. Moments like these call for visible unity” World Editors Forum President Erik Bjerager wrote to the global community of editors this week.

“The right to think, write and speak freely is democracy’s deepest foundation. It must be defended without reservation” Bjerager said.

The World Editors Forum is calling on media organisations, journalists and citizens to show solidarity by adding their voices through a simple message, either individually or on behalf of their organisation, to support our drive to increase safety for all journalists, and to defend their right to publish.

Please add your voice of support to send us a paragraph or two to our email worldeditors@wan-ifra.org, specifying authorship, and we will publish them at the List.ly we have curated from responses received so far. You can comment on other contributions and to this list and share them via your networks. Alternatively, you can create your own List.ly account and submit your comments directly to our list. We will also share these messages with Charlie Hebdo, the global news publishing community and the institutions that can work to ensure events like those in one Paris newsroom never happen again.

Messages of support received so far from world editors include USA Today‘s Editor-In-Chief David Calloway, who wrote “USA Today stands with our journalism colleagues in Paris, throughout Europe, and around the world against all forms of oppression of free speech, especially the violent killing of brave journalists doing their jobs. As we’ve seen this week, each attempt to censor only leads to greater public awareness of the importance of a free press.”

Daisy Li, Online Director at Taiwan Apple Daily wrote “Please send my condolences and wholehearted support to colleagues at Charlie Hebdo. THEY CAN’T KILL US ALL.”
President of Egyptian organization for human rights Hafez Abuseada wrote: “…we strongly support freedom of expression and condemn the terrorist attack (that) targeted French journalists and Charlie Hebdo newspaper.”

And Magazine and Features Editor of Ireland’s Sunday WorldZoe Holohansent this message: “JE SUIS CHARLIE – I sit at my desk in rainy Dublin with the sign displayed beside me. Behind me the news channels continue to report on the atrocities that continue in Paris, and in my head I keep repeating those 3 words. A mantra for freedom of speech; 3 simple words that resonate with all of us in the world of media. I am Charlie, I am Free, I have the right to speak, to write and to hope for a world free from propaganda and indoctrination. Today in Ireland we grieve for those journalists and police lost in Paris this week and indeed for all those reporters murdered across our planet in the name of free speech.”

World editors unite behind #CHARLIEHEBDO
Picture credit: Tim Anger

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