(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – On 30 April 1998, ARTICLE 19 released the following statement to mark World Press Freedom Day 1998: “Where there is silence there can be no democracy. Without press freedom, there is no accountability, no participation, no voice”, Frances D’Souza, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, states today at an event at the Imperial […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – On 30 April 1998, ARTICLE 19 released the following
statement to mark World Press Freedom Day 1998:
“Where there is silence there can be no democracy. Without press freedom,
there is no accountability, no participation, no voice”, Frances D’Souza,
Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, states today at an event at the Imperial
War Museum, London, to celebrate World Press Freedom Day 1998 (Sunday 3
May).
To put the case for press freedom, ARTICLE 19 has invited to London Ardian
Arifaj, Chief Correspondent of the leading independent daily newspaper in
Kosovo, “Koha Ditore.” In the past weeks, journalists on his newspaper have
been prevented by police from reporting on events and have been physically
assaulted.
Dr D’Souza said today: “Press freedom is more than just preventing attacks
on journalists. Governments have a duty to encourage a climate in which the
exchange of
ideas and opinions is allowed to flourish. Instead, in the last few days we
have heard of governments preventing journalists access to areas of conflict
in Kosovo and famine-hit regions in Sudan; and the sentencing of a
journalist to life imprisonment in Nigeria for reporting on an alleged coup
plot.
“Too many countries have legal frameworks designed to limit freedom of
expression and criminalise free speech, and in many so-called democracies
the trend is towards increasing censorship.”
The European Court has stated that “Freedom of the press affords the public
one of the best means of discovering and forming an opinion of the ideas and
attitudes of their political leaders. In particular, it gives politicians
the opportunity to reflect and comment on the preoccupation of public
opinion; it thus enables everyone to participate in the free political
debate which is at the very core of the concept of a democratic society.”
Many countries, including ones where media freedom is strictly limited, have
signed up to regional and international treaties guaranteeing freedom of
expression. ARTICLE 19 today highlights 17 countries where monitoring,
projects or partners have demonstrated that such international obligations
are in some way undermined in law or practice, outlining cases and
situations in those places.
