OSCE MEDIA FREEDOM OFFICIAL TO PRESENT REPORT ON INTERNET CONTENT REGULATION.

VIENNA, Austria -- The following information was released by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE):

Dunja MijatoviA, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, will hold a news conference on Friday, 8 July, to present a new study on government efforts to regulate the Internet in the OSCE area.

The study, commissioned by MijatoviA's office, indicates that OSCE participating States are increasingly regulating content on the Internet. It argues that access to the Internet is a basic prerequisite for exercising the right to freedom of expression and the right to impart and receive information, and offers recommendations designed to maintain freedom of expression and the media on the Internet.

The OSCE 56 OSCE participating States created the Representative on Freedom of the Media institution in December 1997 to observe media freedom related developments in the OSCE region and to warn of violations of freedom of expression.

Journalists are invited to a news conference with the Representative and the author of the study, Yaman Akdeniz, an Associate Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University's Faculty of Law, at 11 a.m. on Friday, 8 July, in room 201 of the Hofburg Congress Centre.

For admittance to the Hofburg Congress Centre, please bring a valid press card to the security desk (main entrance from the Heldenplatz). Parking is available for the press during the event in the OSCE-reserved parking area on Heldenplatz. Temporary parking permits must be collected from the security desk.