Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...

Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom
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Watson Meng
Founder and Editor, Boxun News
Boxun is the first (2000) and most popular Chinese on-line news site (boxun.com) based
on citizen journalism. Meng's previous positions include commercial manager at Unilever,
Zhangjiakou, China, and accountant and project manager at Motorola, Tianjin, China. He
holds an MBA from Duke University, an MA in economics from Nankai University, China,
and a BA in electronic engineering from Hebei Technology Institute, China. He has served
as a technical consultant for Human Rights Watch’s Chinese web site and for Human
Rights in China’s web project.
Julien Pain
Editorial Director, the “Observers” web site, France 24 TV
The site directed by Pain (www.observers.france24.com) is dedicated to viewer-submitted
materials, such as photos and amateur videos, subjected to professional editing. He
worked at Reporters Sans Frontières 2003-2007 as head of its Internet Freedom Desk,
devoted to monitoring and lobbying against Internet censorship and supporting cyberdissidents.
He edited a widely translated Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents.
Peter Scheer
Executive Director, California First Amendment Coalition
A lawyer and journalist, Peter Scheer has since mid-2004 headed the California First
Amendment Coalition, a public interest group to advance free speech, open and
accountable government, and public participation in civic affairs. Since its founding in
1988, the coalition has worked against government censorship and excessive secrecy. The
coalition organized legal defense of wikileaks.org, a whistle-blower web site silenced by a
US Federal judge's order in early 2008. The coalition has also initiated a challenge to
Chinese Internet censorship, as a violation of its international treaty commitments under
the World Trade Organization. The coalition is the lead plaintiff in a test case on public
access to government data bases. Scheer has argued before the US Supreme Court. He
was publisher of Legal Times, a Washington DC weekly on law and lobbying.
Paul E. Steiger
Editor-in-Chief, President, Pro Publica
Created in January 2008, Pro Publica is a non-profit, non-partisan group doing
investigative journalism in the public interest. He was for 16 years Managing Editor of The
Wall Street Journal. He was on the Pulitzer Prize Board 1998-2007 and its Chairman in his
final year. Steiger is also the Chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a
trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Per Toien
Chief of Information, Norwegian Olympic and Para-Olympic Committee
& Sports Confederation
He is a senior adviser on sports policy at the Confederation and has been a teacher,
journalist and public relations advisor. He directed sports programs in Zambia and
Zimbabwe. He was head coach of Norway’s basketball team.