Daily Times

1759, Peter Forsskal, the genius of the Swedish transformation, writes “finally it is also an important right in a free society to be freely allowed to contribute to society’s well-being. However, if that is to occur, it must be possible for society’s state of affairs to become known to everyone, and it must be possible for everyone to speak his mind freely about it. Where this is lacking, liberty is not worth its name” in his pamphlet Thoughts on Civil Liberty published in Stockholm. He triumphed over tyranny when The Freedom of the Press Act was enacted in 1766, a Swedish law proscribed censorship and ensured public access to official records.

Philadelphia, the USA, 1776, Thomas Paine’s publication Common Sense revolutionised the American thought process. He convinced the masses to convert a British colony into a republic. A 47-page pamphlet criticised fear and romance imposed by the royalty. “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason”, he argued. 120,000 copies were sold in its first three months, and by the end of the American Revolution, 500,000 copies were owned by an estimated 20% of the colonists.

In the colonial sub-continent, Mr. Bal Gangadhar Tilak opposed the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, an imperialist attack on the freedom of the press and got arrested. Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah defended him in the court of law. The jury sent him to prison for six years in Burma against the charge of sedition. His famous lines inscribed on a marble tablet standing in front of the grand wood-paneled Central Court of India are “In spite of the verdict of the Jury, I maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destiny of men and nations and it may be the will of providence that the cause which I represent may prosper more by my suffering than my remaining free.”

Populist regimes construct political rhetoric around personalities. The free press opposes central despotism by putting systemic contradictions into the limelight. Moreover, the criticism of corporate cartels with vested interests is strongly undesirable and invite crackdowns on journalists in different forms

The history of constitutionalism validates the role of a free press in shaping modern republics. UNESCO sets “Information as a Public Good” as a central theme for the World Press Freedom Day, 2021. Fair and easy access to information is the foundation of inclusive governance. In today’s rapidly transforming politics, the role of framing and distributing information is critical to uphold fundamental human rights.

The World Press Freedom Day is rooted in a UNESCO conference concluded on May 3, 1991, at Windhoek, Namibia. Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent, and Pluralistic Press was adopted by the member states. Later on, four seminars were organised by the UN to expand the scope of the declaration: the first in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan for the Asian continent, 1992, the second for countries from Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, 1994, the third in 1996 at Sana’a, Yemen for the Middle East, and the last one for Europe and North America at Sofia, Bulgaria in September 1997.

A credible media reflects public aspiration important to sustain a democratic system. No republic can govern efficiently without having a feedback system. Technology and tremendous access to the audience multiply the role of media in the dispensation of justice and equality, particularly for the states representing mosaics of cultural and demographic units.

However, the emergence of 24 hours media channels intensified the academic homework required to preserve journalistic credibility. Higher pursuits for excellence are imperative to maintain neutrality and precision in reporting. The rapidly changing socio-political contexts demand more research to achieve objectivity in analysis. The increasingly dynamic inputs evolved journalism into a thrilling yet challenging human profession.

In the meanwhile, governments also find it more complex to manipulate the truth using coercion or incentivisation. The horizontal expansion of social and electronic media with a remarkable increase in reception has made the process more resistant and self-sufficient. However, for different power groups, including the state itself, the nature of interference, and tools essentially required to orchestrate the journalistic process have also become more sophisticated.

Populist regimes construct political rhetoric around personalities. The free press opposes central despotism by putting systemic contradictions into the limelight. Moreover, the criticism of corporate cartels with vested interests is strongly undesirable and invite crackdowns on journalists in different forms. Numerous are abducted and tortured each year. Many of them are forced to quit their jobs.

The struggle for the liberty of human expression is decorated with the blood of unsung heroes-the reporters and analysts who stood against authoritarianism. UNESCO observatory records 1449 journalists killed since 1993: 82 in Pakistan, 47 in India, 123 in Mexico, 113 in Syria, 21 in Palestine, 108 in the Philippines, 8 in France, 7 in the USA, and 34 in Russia. Collecting data from highly controlled regimes like KSA and China itself is a challenge.

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, 59, associated with The Washington Post, when criticised the policies of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Suleman, was brutally vanished when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Data shows that journalists are facing additional challenges in the developing countries of South Asia, Latin America, and the Far East. The governments are reluctant to implement best practices provided in the United Nations Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. Reporters face threats and harassment from dictators, corrupt governments, militias, and corporate mafias. They often have low salaries and have to work for politicised media outlets.

The challenges are compounded today, within and without. World media is framing an extensive dialogue to evaluate the performance of national governments facing global catastrophes: the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, racism, health, poverty, cultural and political conflicts. The reporters are doing an amazing job all over the world. However, important is to maintain an unbiased posture on global issues amid propaganda wars designed to support global monetary poles like China and the USA and to peruse regional strategic interests of states indulged in a fashioned animosity like in the Middle East and South Asia. The re-conceptualisation of press freedom is inexorable today.

The writer is an academic, columnist, and public policy researcher