“Governments in the UK and US are hiding behind a terrorism blanket to suppress information and this is being used to fine and jail journalists,” said McKenzie, herself a former editor from the United States, with experience in the Bahamas and Ghana.

Cases such as Judith Miller’s, which saw the New York Times journalist jailed for three months for refusing to reveal her source (later uncovered as CIA agent, Valerie Plame), highlight that it is not just the repressive pre-revolution regimes of the Middle East who have targeted journalists.

Speaking later in the afternoon, editor, Eynulla Fatullayev (pictured above), who was imprisoned for four years in his native Azerbaijan, until his release in May 2011, reiterated McKenzie’s point: “A crisis of European values is strengthening authoritarian countries.”

Pointing to examples from across Europe and the US, Fatullayev shared his exasperation in the increasing targeting of journalists in what he considered to be the “cradle of democracy”.

“When countries like the US and UK violate press freedom it makes it much more difficult for us to uphold and to defend press freedom in other countries,” said McKenzie, suggesting that the more repressive regimes use the poor actions of these supposedly liberal countries as a shield to protect their own violations of press freedom rights and ideals.

She also pointed to the vibrant college press in the USA as a frequent victim of attacks, saying that freedom of student journalists on campuses in the US is violated “unabated”.

“Countries that talk the talk must be made to walk the walk.”