Mediapersons under siege
By Shashi Tharoor
Freedom of the press ... blood stained and a casualty during the war in Iraq.
AS I write these words, on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, I am reminded that 12 journalists have been killed just this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based independent non-profit organisation. All over the world, journalists are jailed, attacked and harassed every day.
Throughout the world, World Press Freedom Day, observed on May 3, serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or jail to bring people their daily news. Freedom of the press is the mortar that binds together the bricks of freedom — and it is also the open window embedded in those bricks, through which we can all see the world.
The day marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles drawn up by African journalists calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media in their continent and throughout the world. The declaration, adopted in 1991 at a seminar organised by the United Nations and UNESCO in Windhoek, Namibia, affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal.
A free press is one of the most essential components of a democratic society. And there is no longer any serious debate about the proposition that democracy is essential for social and economic development.
There can be little argument that information and freedom go together. The information revolution is inconceivable without political democracy — and vice-versa. Already, the spread of information has had a direct impact on the degree of accountability and transparency of governments around the world.
There is widespread recognition that restraints on the flow of information directly undermine development. Global interdependence means that those who receive and disseminate information have an edge over those who curtail it. The consequences are apparent in all fields of human endeavour.
The new hallmarks of development are the ability to receive, download and send information through electronic networks, and the capacity to share information — including not only newspapers and journals, but also on-line web sites — without censorship or restrictions. Thus developing countries need to open up to the outside world, liberalise the mass media, and resist government control and censorship of information.
This year the United Nations is organising two major events that will stress the centrality of press freedom. The World Electronic Media Forum, convening in Geneva from December 9 to 11, will bring together media executives and practitioners from developed and developing countries, as well as policy makers, to discuss the role of the electronic media in the information society.
The forum will contribute to the only global summit this year — the World Summit on the Information Society, which will be held in Geneva from December 10 to 12, 2003, with a second phase in Tunis in 2005. Freedom of the press will be a major focus of this first-ever global summit on the subject of the information society.
The summit's draft Declaration of Principles stresses "the commitment to democracy and good governance as well as the existence, in accordance with the legal system of each country, of independent, pluralistic and free mass and other communication media". If the draft is adopted, world leaders will commit themselves to freedom of expression and guarantee the plurality of information.
The information society of the 21st Century can thrive only if citizens are provided with full information to allow democratic participation at all levels. The summit will engage the media as indispensable key participants of the information society, and will, we hope stress the role of press freedom as vital to democracy and good governance.
The summit should also help promote the creation of domestic content, in line with the local culture and in the local language. Cultural diversity and pluralism are essential to an inclusive information society. The "digital divide" is not only a technological one, but also a content divide that penalises developing countries. The two concepts — diversity of content and press freedom — can and need to go together.
New digital technology offers great possibilities for enhancing traditional media and combining them with new media. Moreover, traditional media, and especially radio and television, remain the sole form of access to the information society for much of the world's population, including the very poor and the illiterate.
Perhaps this is the newest challenge for the United Nations — to work to bring access to information, and the empowerment it offers, to all the world's people. Only then will equity and equality be truly brought to the information revolution. Only then will the world's poor and underprivileged have a real way out of the darkness that shrouds their voices, and their hopes.
Shashi Tharoor is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and the author of seven books.
Freedom of the press ... blood stained and a casualty during the war in Iraq.
AS I write these words, on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, I am reminded that 12 journalists have been killed just this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based independent non-profit organisation. All over the world, journalists are jailed, attacked and harassed every day.
Throughout the world, World Press Freedom Day, observed on May 3, serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or jail to bring people their daily news. Freedom of the press is the mortar that binds together the bricks of freedom — and it is also the open window embedded in those bricks, through which we can all see the world.
The day marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles drawn up by African journalists calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media in their continent and throughout the world. The declaration, adopted in 1991 at a seminar organised by the United Nations and UNESCO in Windhoek, Namibia, affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal.
A free press is one of the most essential components of a democratic society. And there is no longer any serious debate about the proposition that democracy is essential for social and economic development.
There can be little argument that information and freedom go together. The information revolution is inconceivable without political democracy — and vice-versa. Already, the spread of information has had a direct impact on the degree of accountability and transparency of governments around the world.
There is widespread recognition that restraints on the flow of information directly undermine development. Global interdependence means that those who receive and disseminate information have an edge over those who curtail it. The consequences are apparent in all fields of human endeavour.
The new hallmarks of development are the ability to receive, download and send information through electronic networks, and the capacity to share information — including not only newspapers and journals, but also on-line web sites — without censorship or restrictions. Thus developing countries need to open up to the outside world, liberalise the mass media, and resist government control and censorship of information.
This year the United Nations is organising two major events that will stress the centrality of press freedom. The World Electronic Media Forum, convening in Geneva from December 9 to 11, will bring together media executives and practitioners from developed and developing countries, as well as policy makers, to discuss the role of the electronic media in the information society.
The forum will contribute to the only global summit this year — the World Summit on the Information Society, which will be held in Geneva from December 10 to 12, 2003, with a second phase in Tunis in 2005. Freedom of the press will be a major focus of this first-ever global summit on the subject of the information society.
The summit's draft Declaration of Principles stresses "the commitment to democracy and good governance as well as the existence, in accordance with the legal system of each country, of independent, pluralistic and free mass and other communication media". If the draft is adopted, world leaders will commit themselves to freedom of expression and guarantee the plurality of information.
The information society of the 21st Century can thrive only if citizens are provided with full information to allow democratic participation at all levels. The summit will engage the media as indispensable key participants of the information society, and will, we hope stress the role of press freedom as vital to democracy and good governance.
The summit should also help promote the creation of domestic content, in line with the local culture and in the local language. Cultural diversity and pluralism are essential to an inclusive information society. The "digital divide" is not only a technological one, but also a content divide that penalises developing countries. The two concepts — diversity of content and press freedom — can and need to go together.
New digital technology offers great possibilities for enhancing traditional media and combining them with new media. Moreover, traditional media, and especially radio and television, remain the sole form of access to the information society for much of the world's population, including the very poor and the illiterate.
Perhaps this is the newest challenge for the United Nations — to work to bring access to information, and the empowerment it offers, to all the world's people. Only then will equity and equality be truly brought to the information revolution. Only then will the world's poor and underprivileged have a real way out of the darkness that shrouds their voices, and their hopes.
Shashi Tharoor is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and the author of seven books.
Labels: Journalists, media, Shashi Tharoor
posted by Mighty Media @ 05:38
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