Welcome Speech by Michael GOLDEN, Publisher of the International Herald Tribune, Vice Chairman of the New York Times Company

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s a pleasure to be here for the opening of this Forum, and I would like to underscore the importance of the topics, that we are going to discuss over the next few days.

It’s my belief that the conditions that allow for a free and robust press are the very same conditions that create confidence in government and economic security. The two complement each other. And conversely, the conditions that limit a free and robust press destroy confidence in government and economic security. To be clear, I am not saying that a free and robust press is the answer to all questions, but I am saying that it is the same conditions that allow both of these things to exist.

The first principle is that in the long run, government can only function with the effective consent of the governed. To achieve that consent, governments facing difficult questions, and all government do face difficult questions, must create consensus, and that consensus is created through the vehicle of the mass media, particularly, the printed press.

The founding fathers of the United States in 1700 created in the Constitution a law that said in part that government shall make no laws restricting freedom of the press. They had their eyes wide open, they knew that a free press is at times very messy, it is very troublesome. It upsets government, it upsets military leaders, it upsets industry leaders. But they also knew that if all voices were heard, the people will find the truth. And as President Nazarbayev said a moment ago, the recent turmoil that we saw in neighboring countries - in Ukraine, in Georgia, in Kyrgyzstan - was not the result of the press, it is the result, as the President said, of internal development issues, the press just reported them.

The next point is that corruption is poison to effective government and poison to sustained economic development. But also corruption exposed cannot last. Consensus is quickly formed; governments are forced to respond, again as witnessed in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

And lastly if a government operates with the consensus of the governed and without corruption economic security and improved standard of living follow. That is in essence why we band together into societies and governments. To enjoy many things but particularly economic development and an increased standard of living that raises all in the society.

The other thing that is very important right now is to realize that the organizations around the world that monitor conditions of the press, find that press freedom is declining today in the world. For two years in the row, it has been declining. The causes are legal harassment, political pressure, violence against journalists. That should be of concern to all of us, particularly in the media business; but it should be of concern to all of us in any business, because if those conditions are threatened it threatens our way of life.

I wish you all an excellent conference again. Thank you for being here.