"Terrorism against the Media" was the theme of a conference organised by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) in the Basque city of Bilbao last Friday.
Its main focus was the impact of the campaign of assassination and intimidation being waged against journalists here by the pro-independence group ETA. But the terrorist attacks on the US earlier in the week inevitably put the discussions in a broader context, and was referred to by most participants.
A paragraph added to the conference's final declaration read: "In these tragic days of new and unprecedented terror against humanity, it is more urgent than ever to stand resolute against, and to condemn, every single violation of the fundamental, democratic principles which govern the civilised world."
One senior journalist and one newspaper executive have been killed by ETA since last year. A dozen others have been targeted, usually by parcel bombs. Speakers repeatedly stressed that journalists' lives were no more, or less, important than those of other ETA victims, but underlined that the group's campaign against the media was aimed not just at individuals, but at freedom of expression itself. Several of the surviving victims were present to tell their stories. Ms Aurora Intxausti was opening her post at home with her husband, TV journalist Juan Palomo, on November 9th last.
Their one-year-old son, Inigo, was beside them.
Only a technical failure in the bomb which she found herself manipulating saved their lives. She and her family have been forced to move to Madrid for security. She can never forget, she says, that dozens of her colleagues "know that every line they write will be scrutinised by the analysts of ETA".
Unlike most of the other victims, Ms Intxausti and Mr Palomo were not particularly prominent in the media. After this attack, much larger numbers of journalists have had to learn to begin their working day looking for bombs under their cars, and can only leave their highly fortified offices with the protection of bodyguards.
An internal ETA document justifying this campaign claims that many sections of the media have become "instruments of the state in the war against the Basque Country". In truly Orwellian fashion, ETA argues that its actions actually "create new space for freedom of expression".
"An attack on one journalist is an attack on all of us," said Mr Roger Parkinson, president of the WAN.
However, a panel discussion representing the majority of Spanish and Basque editors revealed some sharp disagreements as to how to respond to the crisis, and, indeed, about the nature of the crisis itself.
Two letters arrived for the panel just before the debate began.
One of them, signed by 100 journalists, agreed that ETA's campaign was an attack on freedom of expression, but drew attention to the killing of two other journalists, allegedly by State-sponsored death squads.
It also claimed that freedom of speech was under threat from the judicial closures of a newspaper, radio station and magazine for alleged links to ETA. The other letter was from Ms Mertxe Aizpurua, editor of a radical newspaper Gara. She said that she would not accept an invitation to participate because a WAN report on the situation had "perversely manipulated" her position on ETA's campaign.
On the panel, editors from Basque nationalist papers supported some of these points, and criticised their Madrid-based colleagues for using inflammatory language about nationalist aspirations. They, in turn, were told that they should refrain from describing opponents of nationalism as "enemies of the Basque people".
While all panellists emphasised the importance of maintaining professional standards of accuracy and fairness in the very difficult circumstances created by ETA's attacks, it was patently clear that these values were interpreted very differently by different newspapers.
Paddy Woodworth chaired the discussion by the panel of editors on behalf of The Irish Times.