The Eastern Africa Editors Society (EAES) will organize this year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) activities in Tanzania on May 3, 2022.

This will be the third regional meeting and the first to be held physically.

Confirming the physical convening this morning, EAES President Churchill Otieno said the Society looked forward to a strong commitment to freedom of expression, freedom of the media and access to information in the region and beyond.

“We are delighted to be able to meet physically and discuss relevant issues facing the media in the region. We are also grateful to Tanzania and the Tanzania Publishers Forum (TEF) for showing magnanimity in hosting the meeting,” he said.

This year, the theme for World Press Freedom Day is “Journalism Under Surveillance” and the region is concretely aware of these issues.

Deodatus Balile, President of the Tanzania Publishers Forum, said he looked forward to celebrating the day with colleagues from the region and beyond. “Tanzania is pleased to welcome editors, journalists and media professionals from the region. Following this year’s theme, it is likely that the Society has seen fit not only to hold it physically, as Covid-19 continues to ravage communities, but also to visit Tanzania. World Press Freedom Day celebrated in Tanzania will strengthen the bond of media brotherhood in the region,” he noted.

Last year the Society contributed to the Windhoek +30 Declaration where the issues it discussed and presented in Windhoek were adopted.

At the heart of the Society is the exchange of ideas, building solidarity and networks to learn and deepen media freedoms in the region.