THE Canon Media Awards are on in Auckland tonight, and this annual celebration of journalism excellence will this year be dedicated to media freedom.
Media freedom is something that means a lot to us journalists - and actually means a lot to the rest of New Zealand, though they mightnot realise it.
The freedom to report fairly and impartially; to inform the general public of what is happening in their country, and in their community, in an objective and unbiased way is vital to the health of the free and democratic society that New Zealand would aspire to be.
However, there are always those - even here in Wanganui - who would wish to stifle that flow of information, or to twist it and present it in a way that suits their own ends. At a local level, the pressure on our professional judgment is manageable and relatively harmless. But at a global level the violence can be shocking - most prominently the assassination of journalists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January.
Freedom of expression can come at a high price, with a reported 60 journalists killed last year while doing their job, reporting on stories around the world. There are more dangerous professions, of course, and I would make no special pleading for journalists. Their deaths are no more tragic than the thousands killed around the world's hotspots.
But at tonight's awards, their valuable contribution will be marked in a small way. As awards organiser and Newspaper Publishers' Association editorial director Rick Neville says: "Given the terrible assaults on journalists and freedom of speech in recent times, it's only fitting that we pause to reflect on what it is to live in a free society, and do everything we can to underline the importance of strong and free media to democracy."
