Join us as we welcome participants to Durban and celebrate the award of the Golden Pen of Freedom, WAN-IFRA’s annual recognition of an outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an institution to the cause of press freedom. Behind the names of the laureates lie stories of extraordinary personal courage and self-sacrifice, stories of jail, beatings, bombings, censorship, exile and murder. This is a moment for the world’s media to come together in solidarity and offer support to our laureate, and to insist that more be done to protect the essential freedoms that lie at the very core of our profession. OFFICIAL WELCOME The President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, and Tomas Brunegard, the President of WAN-IFRA, will welcome participants and open the 69th World News Media Congress and 24th World Editors Forum.