Peter Preston to deliver Birand Memorial Lecture
P24 will mark World Press Freedom Day with Preston’s lecture and the screening of its two new films ‘’Persona non Grata’’ and ‘’Letter to Armenia’’
12.04.2015
Peter Preston, columnist for the Guardian and the Observer newspapers as well as a leading advocate of media integrity will deliver this year’s Mehmet Ali Birand Memorial lecture.
The annual event is organised by Punto24, the Turkish platform for independent journalism and receives the support of the Swedish Consulate in Istanbul.
Last year, journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan delivered the inaugural Mehmet Ali Birand Memorial Lecture to mark World Press Freedom Day.
This year’s lecture is also scheduled for 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. It honours the memory of Mehmet Ali Birand (1941-2013), a journalist of international reputation who opened Turkish newsrooms to the outside world.
“I view the struggles of Turkish journalism with alarm– not just because anti-freedom legislation and the self-censorship… but because the clamour of creative voices should never be stilled,” Preston says.
Preston was editor of the Guardian between 1975 -1995, leading the paper through stormy clashes with the then Conservative government. He is also a frequent visitor to Turkey having led in an International Press Institute mission to Turkey in 2012.
The lecture is just one of the events which P24 will be organising to coincide with World Press Freedom Day. It has commissioned “Persona Non Grata” – a documentary about journalists who lose their jobs under political pressure, directed by Tuluhan Tekelioğlu. Another short film “Letter to Armenia” directed by Enis Rıza, expresses the thoughts of prominent Turkish journalists and authors on the anniversary of the 1915 genocide.
Both films will be shown to the audience attending the Mehmet Ali Birand Memorial Lecture. (P24)