World Press Freedom Day

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Transcript

The 3rd of May is World Press Freedom Day. This day celebrates one of the most fundamental human rights: freedom of expression. The United Nations made this right very clear in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 says:

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.

World Press Freedom Day not only celebrates freedom. For me it's also a day of anger and resolve. Some governments, political and paramilitary groups, and criminal organizations depend on people's ignorance. They don't want some of their activities to be exposed, so they are afraid of reporters. Every year many journalists, media workers, and bloggers around the world are threatened, injured, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for trying to report events accurately. Government officials and others who commit such crimes almost never face justice.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, between January 1st, 1992, and April 4th, 2008, 685 journalists have been killed while doing their jobs. More than 72% of them were murdered. In 88% of those cases, the killers got away with complete impunity: they were never punished at all.

Many journalists are harassed or imprisoned. Twenty-four countries are holding 127 journalists in prison. The worst country is China, where at least 29 journalists are in prison. Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan also jail many journalists. Other countries, including the United States, are also guilty. Some even hold journalists in prison without bringing criminal charges.

It's hard for ordinary people to punish government officials of any country, but at least we can express our outrage at such cowardly, dishonorable behavior, and we can continue to insist on justice. Officials who are responsible for harassing and imprisoning journalists should be tried for criminal violations of human rights.

Freedom of expression is not a vague, abstract ideal. Three decades ago I knew a Libyan professor who was beaten and tortured for talking about freedom of the press in a university class. His friends and colleagues could not help him. We could only admire his courage to speak. He knew that he might be punished for talking about freedom, but he was too proud to be stopped by fear. Weeks later he returned from a military prison. He was weak and scarred by cigarette burns in sensitive parts of his body, but he seemed happy that everyone understood what he had been trying to teach. He'd been an arrogant man, and I hadn't liked him very much, but he inspired me and taught me a great lesson.

People remain free only by expressing their freedom. Sometimes expressions of freedom require great courage and sacrifice by people who value truth. Many of those people are journalists, and they deserve our gratitude.

The most important purpose of journalism is to give citizens accurate information that they need in order to govern themselves. If journalists become afraid to report events accurately, abuse of power will increase, and democratic society will wither and die. I hope World Press Freedom Day will remind people everywhere to celebrate freedom of expression and denounce those who try to prevent journalists from doing their valuable work.