In more than one sense it was an industry under threat that got together for the World News Media Congress in Washington, DC, today.
Aggrieved that journalists - 1127 of them since 1992 - are losing their lives "in the course of duty" without governments or others taking real steps to punish perpetrators, publishers accorded them their Golden Pen of Freedom.
There was also a curious indignation expressed in later sessions that "technology" was stealing the lunch of legacy publishing businesses. We'll deal with the second separately (see WNC: Millennials - problem or opportunity) and focus on the real issue first: In a very serious opener to the three-day event, WAN-Ifra president Tomas Brunegárd, RBS Brazil executive director Marcello Rech and then US State Department counsellor Thomas Shannon paid tribute to those who had died while the long list of victims' names rolled up the screen.
Shannon referred to the "agonising absence" of colleagues from the room, and threats to press freedom, not just from groups such as ISIS but from the Russian "propaganda machine".
Journalists bring reality back in focus, "with no defence but the virtue of your profession," he said.
WAN-Ifra had already announced that this year's Golden Pen of Freedom was being awarded to the journalists who had given their lives, and lights were dimmed and a gospel choir sang as those of the 900 congress delegates from 75 countries in the room remembered colleagues and specifically the violence of the past year.
Earlier following its board meeting, WAN-Ifra issued a call for governments, international institutions and the media industry itself to prioritise journalists' safety and denounced the "state of impunity" it says surrounds the murder of journalists in many parts of the world. The board also called for greater solidarity within the news industry to propose solutions that improve safety and protection for all journalists, and to work together to support media professionals working in unstable and unsafe environments as a means of strengthening press freedom worldwide.
"WAN-IFRA calls on governments worldwide to actively support the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity and encourages support organisations to work more closely with media companies to address the gaps in training, equipment and expertise that could contribute to reducing dangers," said the resolution.
More than half of the 1127 journalists killed since 1992 worked in print media, and most were local journalists.
- After a day of combined Congress, World Editors Forum and World Advertising Forum events today, the programme separates into streams to continue on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Social highlight - a gala dinner on Tuesday evening - follows a welcome party at Newseum yesterday evening.
Pictured: Candles and a choral tribute as killed journalists are honoured
On our homepage: State Department counsellor Thomas Shannon