BOARD OF DIRECTORSArnold Amber
CBC Television Network News
President
Mori Abdolalian
CJFE Journalists in Exile
Alison Armstrong
Journalist/writer
Bob Carty
CBC-Radio "This Morning"
Barbara Falk
Writer/Lecturer
Mike Forzley
Accountant
Roger Holmes
The Wainwright Star Chronicle, Alberta
Steve Lukits
Royal Military College
John Norris
Lawyer, Ruby, Edwardh
Carol Off
CBC Television Network News
Jake Peters
Photojournalist
Kelly Toughill
King's College, Nova Scotia
Philip Tunley
Lawyer, Stockwoods LLP
Mary Deanne Shears
Journalist
Sally Warren
Journalist, Editor, Author
ADVISORY BOARDPeter Desbarats
Maclean-Hunter Chair for Communications Ethics, Ryerson
Parker Barss Donham
freelance
John Honderich
The Toronto Star
John Macfarlane
Toronto Life
Joe Matyas
Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild
Ann Medina
freelance
Rick Moffat
Radio-TV News Directors Assn.
Lynda Powless
Native Journalists' Association
Lloyd Robertson
CTV News
Robert Scully
Télémision Information Inc.
Julian Sher
Canadian Association of Journalists
Keith Spicer
Institut du Monde anglophone Université de Paris III Sorbonne nouvelle
Norman Webster
Montreal
Toronto Journalists Hold Rally for Alan Johnston
Journalists join in solidarity with their colleagues around the world to call for the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston on his 60th day of captivityCanadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) have called on their members and all journalists to mark May 10, 2007, by attending a rally in support of British journalist Alan Johnston. BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston was kidnapped by gunmen near his office in Gaza City on March 12, 2007. Thursday, May 10 marks his 60th day in captivity.
Interviews with Daniel Lak, former BBC South Asia correspondent and friend of Alan Johnston, will be available in advance of the event
WHAT: Rally for Alan Johnston
WHERE: Simcoe Place Express Park 200 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario
WHEN: Thursday, May 10, 2007 12:00 p.m. - 12:40p.m.
WHO: Speakers include:
Sandro Contenta, Toronto Star
Rick MacInnes Rae, CBC Radio
Peter Mansbridge, CBC Television
Patrick Martin, The Globe and Mail
Brian Stewart, CBC Television
Anna Maria Tremonti, CBC Radio
Johnston, 44, is a veteran foreign correspondent. Before moving to Gaza in 2004, he ran BBC bureaus in Kabul and Tashkent. He is widely respected and liked by his peers. His reporting on events in Gaza has been widely acclaimed as balanced, insightful and courageous.
Johnston is believed to be alive and in good health. The BBC and other journalism organisations around the world have been calling for Johnston's immediate and safe release from the day of his abduction.
On May 9, these appeals took on a new urgency when his kidnappers, a group called Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) delivered a tape to Al Jazeera news in which they made specific demands. This is the first time the group has made public demands through the media. They are asking for the release of Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Islamic cleric held in the UK as a threat to national security.
A single media worker harmed or kidnapped is one too many. The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) reports dozens of
instances of journalists taken hostage each year, many of them in Iraq and the Gaza strip. Fourteen journalists have been kidnapped
in the Gaza Strip since 2005. Reporters, camera crew and producers need to know they can work safely in troubled areas like Gaza. If
journalists are unable to report freely, the world will have lost vital access to information.