Opinion: Freedom of the press — A pillar of every democracy
The right to freedom of expression is not a luxury good. Unlimited freedom of the press is not something democracies can do without, but rather something they must defend with all their power. Freedom of the press is one of the pillars of the democratic form of government, one that guarantees the greatest possible freedom to every individual and the greatest protection to minorities. It is only possible to uncover — and in the best case hinder — corruption and injustice when everyone has the right to freely express opinion, to critically question the goings-on of politics and business, to investigate unobstructed and to publish the results of one’s research.
Read more: More journalists killed globally in 2018, says Reporters Without Borders
Hitler’s calculus
Of course there is nothing new about that observation. Of all people, we Germans learned from Hitler just how important independent reporting is. In a moment of exacting calculus, his reign of terror began with the end of press freedom.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
Africa’s very own North Korea: Eritrea
Eritrea ranks second-last in the World Press Freedom Index. Reports from the disastrous state of affairs in Eritrea are rare, and many journalists have been forced to leave the country. Radio Erena is the only one to broadcast independent information to the people of Eritrea — from Paris.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
Dictated by the dictator
Press freedom is also non-existent in North Korea. Sealed off from the rest of the world, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un keeps a check on what the media publish. State TV and radio are available, nothing more. People who express their opinions vanish in political prison camps — along with their entire families.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
Keeping tabs in Turkmenistan
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov owns almost all of the country’s media corporations. The newspaper Rysgal is the only exception, and even here, every edition needs state approval before it can go to press. A new law against media monopolies gives the people of Turkmenistan access to foreign news, but the government still keeps tabs on the Internet, and blocks most websites.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
Culling the critics
Independent media do not exist in Vietnam. The ruling Communist Party tells journalists what to publish. For the most part, publishers, editors and the reporters themselves are party members. Authorities have recently taken a greater interest in bloggers who challenge the authoritarian Communist Party’s opinion monopoly – and try to silence them by sending them to jail.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
China’s non-freedom
China, Reporters Without Borders says, is the world’s biggest prison for bloggers and journalists. The authoritarian regime takes massive steps against unwelcome news coverage; pressure on foreign reporters is also on the rise. Entire regions are taboo to them, their work is closely monitored and Chinese assistants or interview partners can quite simply be imprisoned.
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Where freedom of the press doesn’t exist
Under fire in Syria
Many journalists have been persecuted and killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad, whom Reporters Without Borders has ranked as an enemy of press freedom for years. The al-Nusra front, which fights against Assad, and the Islamic State group in turn attack Syrian state media reporters, kidnapping or publicly executing the journalists and correspondents.
But what does that mean today? Foremost, that we can never stop reporting about the oppression of journalists, that we can never stop demanding our incarcerated colleagues be released, and that we oblige those in power to stop their efforts to curtail freedom of expression. And it means we must demand our own government and opposition parties act with purpose to do just that — diplomatically, but also with precise action when necessary.
The EU must reflect upon how it intends to deal with member states that successively limit press freedom, passing laws to that end while at the same time firing critical judges and silencing critics. It must be made unmistakably clear at accession talks for aspiring member states that press freedom is not negotiable, and that without it there is no possibility of membership. Lax attitudes toward new member states in this regard over the past few years have come to haunt the EU.
Read more: After Jan Kuciak, killing journalists now ‘within realm of possibility’
DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl
The trends that we are witnessing within Europe are anything but banal. And things are rapidly approaching a critical head in countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania. The situation for bloggers and citizen journalists — which in many places are one of the few sources of independent information — has deteriorated to the point of being life-threatening. This year alone, some 13 such people were killed worldwide, almost twice as many as in 2017.
Read more: How oligarchs captured Central Europe’s media
Trump attacks the press
But direct violence against journalists is not the only threat. Politicians like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin know where journalism is most vulnerable: With its most valuable commodity, its credibility. When the US president attacks the media as “fake news,” it is about much more than simply distracting from his own most recent lies. It is a long-term strategy designed to undermine the credibility of his most dangerous critics, and thus to weaken those who are in the process of uncovering his machinations and their roots.
That also means journalists and media companies must rise to the challenge and conduct their research even more carefully, question their own colleagues even more critically and admit to mistakes without reserve. For every intentional misconduct, every unfounded escalation and every one-sided representation simply plays into the hands of those intent on keeping citizens from informing themselves in order to form their own opinions — the prerequisite that ensures elections are truly democratic.
Article source: http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-freedom-of-the-press-a-pillar-of-every-democracy/a-46880176?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf