Press freedom is a special characteristic of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Article 19 of the UDHR states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers".
The above quote proves that all nations, be they really democratic or democratic under disguise, accept that press freedom is vital for human beings to think, communicate and act with human dignity.
The incorporation of press freedom as an inalienable birth right of human beings signifies that human beings are rational beings and they cannot grow better unless they own communication rights. People’s communication rights refer to media rights in a real sense.
However, many have ruled human beings under different titles and slogans. In the process of maintaining their power and dominance over the largest majority of people, whom they consider as the governed beings, they have trodden upon people’s communication rights.
Today, the majority of human beings suffer from political and socio-economic inequalities and injustices. A few countries have tried to run the world under their military command chains.
Due to blind ideological confrontations, millions of innocent human beings have been killed.
Because of the growing criminalization in the political sector, interpretations of commonly agreed-upon human rights and democracy have been tailored to individual tastes and needs.
In this context, interpretations of press freedom, too, have been determined by prejudices and corporate needs.
Be it in America, Europe, Asia or Africa, human beings love democracy and freedom.
Democracy and freedom have been misinterpreted to a greater degree for the sake of elitist interests.
People are being taught that press freedom is something to be used against the working class people. Such misinterpreters try to create an image that the working class people are threats and troublemakers to democracy.
The greatest injustice the 21st-century working class suffers is the negligence of their human rights.
In developing countries, in the main, the working class people live a life below the average human standard. Their labor rights are frequently violated before the eyes of law and law enforcements agencies.
However, the mainstream media do still believe that disseminating ample information on the burning issues of the working class people is not professional journalism. Can there be a more regrettable instance as far as the application of press freedom is concerned?
What’s wrong with covering the greatest majority concerns in the world?
What’s wrong with trying to accurately perceive the significance of the working class people, who build up all the luxuries for the exploiting-ruling class? Instead, it may be utterly wrong to flatter the deep-rooted exploiting class in the name of press freedom.
Even today, the working class people’s fundamental rights are being overshadowed and media are doing a salesman’s job of showbiz industries. In this situation, the mass media and the involved professionals can exercise their genuine press freedom for implementation of the working class people’s fundamental rights to prove that democracy is also for those who sustain the world.
As regards the existing store of press freedom ideas, no one has denied the need for an access to contesting ideas, public discourse, and communication on vital public issues.
What is necessary is the desire of the mass media and the involved professionals to contribute to the equality of human dignity to be determined by political and socio-economic justice in a manner that can generally be perceived as logical. We need their understanding that media professionals and other media workers also need human dignity and their professional rights so that they can be more active in contributing to the dignity and rights of other people in general.
Existing ideological hostilities have given birth to unethical practices in media sector as well. Misinterpretation and misrepresentation of facts have become common problems to address while utilizing press freedom.
Without utlilizing the potential effectiveness of the mass media in educating the working class people, a truly participatory and inclusive democracy cannot be established.
More miscommunication than accurate communication creates misunderstanding among people. Misunderstanding among people cultures psychological conflicts. Psychological conflicts head towards physical confrontations that nurture long-term conflicts.
Therefore, every conscientious human being must resist the misdefinitions of press freedom. They should question themselves, press freedom for whom? For whom is today’s press freedom being used?
No doubt, press freedom is for everyone. But a few elite rulers, too, must be prepared to live as ‘everyone’, not above everyone.
There is no harm to advocate press freedom for everyone as states the Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights,"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one’s choice".
Debates never end on press freedom issues as per the priorities and environmental impressions of people. However, it would be relevant to keep in mind the following views of Mary Robinson (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1997-2002):
Press freedom is a cornerstone of human rights and a guarantee of other freedoms. It encourages transparency and good governance; it ensures that, over and above the mere rule of law, society enjoys the rule of true justice.
In brief, press freedom must not be a tool of injustice against the majority of people in the world.
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