KOBE -- More than two-thirds of the world's population does not have freedom of opinion and expression, Jayme Sirotsky, president of the World Association of Newspapers, told 800 newspaper people from 59 countries and regions gathered for the opening of the 51st World Newspaper Congress and the Fifth World Editors Forum here Monday.
The press has given "far too little attention to the plight of those 4.7 billion people and demands too little of our political leaders in their dealings with the governments who silence them," he said.
The World Association of Newspapers, which started as the International Federation of Newspaper Publishers in 1948 to promote the freedom and economic independence of newspapers, consists of 55 newspaper associations from 52 countries.