IPA’s Pansa On Publishing and Responsibility

International Publishers Association President Karine Pansa places special importance on the freedom to publish, which face threats around the world.

The inaugural session of the Advanced Publishing Institute, held last month at New York University, employed case studies and problem-solving exercises to examine the changes sweeping over publishing.

On the weeklong program’s final day, International Publishers Association President Karine Pansa offered the class of mid-career publishing executives her global perspective, emphasizing professional responsibility as seen from many angles.

Pansa tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally she places special importance on her responsibility to preserve the freedom to publish, which faces threats around the world.

“The freedom to publish, like the freedom to read and the freedom of expression, is under increasing pressure around the world – through traditional state pressure, but also on social media,” Pansa says.

“We see books, especially for the young, being targeted. In Turkey, some books were classified as obscene, and they were forced to be taken off the bookstore shelves or to be shrink-wrapped so that children could not have access. Those books were mainly of LGBTQ themes. The same pressure can affect librarians, and the talk of book bans is present nowadays in many, many countries.”