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Forum:
Human Rights Commission 2
Issue:
Measures to Protect Press Freedom
Student Officer: Michael Meiring
Position:
Deputy President
Introduction
Press freedom was introduced to most countries in the mid 1900’s and ever since then, it has
become a major topic of controversy. Many countries lack not just a right to freedom of the press, but
any semblance of the rule of law. The press is often seen as a threat by governments and other
powerbrokers and therefore they target journalists with violence, intimidation and imprisonment to
silence them. Acts introduced by the US such as the Sedition Act, greatly limited press freedom because
the US government exercised censorship against anything or views that they believed to be incorrect. All
of these acts have been lifted and the press is free in America once again. Skip ahead to today, and
most countries have press freedom because most countries follow each other’s examples. That being
said, some governments still censor press about war, military and any topics or possible truths they don’t
want their citizens to know about.
On the 10th of December 1948, the UN adopted “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
with a vote of 48 in favor, 0 against and 8 abstentions. Article 19 of this declaration 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.” This was the first time this issue had been addressed by the UN.
Some governments see the press as a threat. They believe that the press could possibly expose
secrets that the government have been hiding, or promote views that the government do not approve of.
Whatever the reasons may be, some governments have used alarming and even brutal ways to keep the
press quiet. Bribery has been a popular and effective method to silence the press.
In certain countries, journalists are being unjustly sanctioned for the publication of truth and face
censorship laws and press restrictions that are being imposed on them. Not only does information get
withheld from the public, but editorialists are being prosecuted for their critical analysis. They do not have
the freedom as such to voice out their views freely in fear of imprisonment, with their views being
scanned by government authorities. Not only do these events occur in developing countries, but in
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developed countries as well; there are arbitrary arrests and illegal restrictions on the works of journalists,
editorialists and media workers. With an increasing intolerance and hostility against the press,
editorialists and journalists who are regarded by their governments as ‘troublesome intellectuals,’ face
extra legal measures with some being unjustly detained for hours, days, weeks and even months and
some sentenced for imprisonments for ‘contempt of court.’
Definition of Key Terms
Press Freedom
Press freedom is the right to be able to publish information or opinions in news print (such as
newspapers, magazines, online news articles, films, radio and television programs), without
interference or censorship from the government and fear of punishment.
Journalist
A journalist is someone who gathers information on a topic, and the reports the news to the
public. This can be in multiple formats, such as, magazines, newspapers, radio or a television
program.
Sabotage
To deliberately damage, destroy or obstruct something, especially for military or political
advantage.
Censorship
Censorship is the act of prohibiting some parts of the news that the government sees as
politically incorrect, or a threat to security.
Libel
A published statement that is false and can harm a person’s reputation.
Background Information
The UK
The first documented account of press censorship was in England in 1534. Some unauthorised
publications resulted in a royal proclamation, which required all publications to be licensed. Stronger
restrictive measures were taken by Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and censorship came to be applied
more to political criticism than different religious views. John Milton attacked the licensing law and called
on Parliament to suppress offensive publications after their appearance if necessary. Milton's objections
to prior restraint eventually became a cornerstone of press freedom, but it was not until 1695 that the
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licensing and censorship laws were destroyed. Severe restrictions on the press continued, however, in
the form of libel laws under which the government was able to arrest and punish any printer who
published material in any way critical of the government. At the time there was no clear definition of what
constituted libel. Only in the mid-19th century did truth become admissible as a defense in English libel
cases.
The USA
The defense of John Peter Zenger is seen in most cases as the cornerstone of Press Freedom in
America. Skip ahead several years and the first amendment made several changes to the US
constitution (1791). One of these changes state, “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of
speech or of the press”. Skip ahead to world war 1 (1914), and the near hysteria of possible sabotage
forced US congress to pass the Espionage Acts (1917) and the Sedition Act (1918). These acts greatly
limited the freedom of the press to the extent that no articles that mentioned anything good about their
enemies, was allowed to be published without censorship or alteration. Luckily the press is once again
mostly free in the US, and can publish almost anything they like. However, some of the things that the
press cannot publish in fear of national security are, The movements and whereabouts of army troops,
plans and strategies of the army and basically anything else about the the US military that the
government doesn't want its citizens to know.
War times
War times can greatly restrict the freedom of the press as shown by the
examples given by the US. All countries of the world commonly show this during times of war. Many
governments fear sabotage that could lead to plots being uncovered and so on. Since governments don’t
want information that could threaten national secrets and security, they use many different ways to
silence the press. Under normal circumstances, these methods would be generally harmless (small
fines, warnings…). However, extreme times call for extreme measures. Militaries around the world can
resort to methods such as very large fines, years of jail time, loss of jobs and sometimes even a death
sentence. In most countries, this only applies to times of war, and the censorship is stopped once the
war is over. In some countries however, the press never have freedom. This is generally not seen in
democracies, but more often in a dictatorship.
Major Countries and Organizations Involved
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United States of America
The USA, like the UK, had one of the most free press in the world. However,
due to the events over the last couple of years, the relationship between the press, National Security and
Counterterrorism Efforts, have only gotten more tense. The First Amendment did add a paragraph to the
constitution of the USA, which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances.”
United Kingdom
The UK is seen by many as the country that started the battle on press
freedom in the 15th century. While the UK has a long history of free press, it has no constitutional
guarantee of free press.
Finland
For the last couple of years, Finland has been rated as the country where the
press is the most free (Rating done by Reporters Without Borders (RSF)). Finland has been has been
inspiring many other countries in the region to try and follow their example by having a free press.
Reporters Without Borders
The Reporters Without Borders organisation (RWB, also known as Reporters Sans Frontières
(RSF)) is an organization that is recognized worldwide. The organization provides statistics about the
level or press freedom a certain country has.
Timeline of Events
Date
Description
1534
A royal proclamation is made, requiring all
publications in England to have a prepublication
license.
15 Dec, 1791
The First Amendment is made to the constitution
of the USA and includes a statement that prohibits
the USA to limit the freedom of the press.
13 Nov, 1797
The Sedition Act is put into effect, which greatly
limits.
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10 Dec, 1948.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is
ratified. This declaration has been created in the
hopes to make sure that all humans have the
same rights, and that everyone knows what they
are.
Relevant UN Treaties and Events
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948 (A/RES/3/217 A)
●
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development, 27 June 2016 (A/HRC/32/L.20)
●
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development, 26 September 2016 (A/HRC/33/L.6)
Previous Attempts to solve the Issue
One of the previous attempts to solve the issue is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
While it did solve many problems when it was created, it leaves many problems and questions of today
unsolved. Seeing as it was created in 1948, it doesn't fully address the needs and wants of modern day
society. It does also cover absolutely essential problems to modern day society. Some of these include:
equality, freedom of speech and also freedom of the press. It is because of both positives and negatives
that this attempt to solve the issue is seen by some as a blessing, and by others as a hindered effort.
Another attempt to solve the issue was the First Amendment to the USA’s constitution. It
addresses the issue thoroughly and was well suited to the time in which it was created, and it can still
apply to modern day life just as well. It addresses the issue of press freedom as well as freedom of
speech, religion and many more. That being said there are still some points of vagueness within it that
are especially important in modern day life.
Possible Solutions
While many solutions have been proposed to ensure the freedom of the press, hardly any have
actually been put into effect. Some of the reasons behind the difficulties can include the values of
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governments and countries and the ways some governments operate and put acts into effect.
One possible solution can include creating an NGO to monitor and assess the amount of
freedom a certain press company is deemed to have. Should that company have less or no freedom
compared to other companies, then the NGO can give punishments to the person or organization found
responsible.
There are many other possible solutions, which can be implemented to ensure that the freedom
of the press isn't compromised. One example is that security measures can be put in place in order to
ensure that the press is free to enter an area without any harm coming upon to themselves or members
of their team.
Furthermore, a system can be created that can verify authentic journalists in order to make sure that only
real, qualified journalists can enter an area and report on it.
Bibliography
Censorship, violence & press freedom · what we do · article 19 (2500) Available at:
https://www.article19.org/pages/en/censorship-violence-press-freedom-more.html (Accessed: 18
January 2017).
Fraser, N. (2008) Dignity and hope: Too much to ask for? Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/21/humanrights (Accessed: 1 February 2017).
Freedom of speech and freedom of press (no date) Available at:
http://www.lincoln.edu/criminaljustice/hr/Speech.htm (Accessed: 25 January 2017).
Networks2017Sandbox (2000) Press, freedom of the: History. Available at:
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/press-freedom-the-history.html (Accessed: 10 January
2017).
Reporters (2016) 2015: “National security” – spurious grounds. Available at: https://rsf.org/en/2015national-security-spurious-grounds (Accessed: 30 January 2017).
Universal declaration of human rights (no date) Available at: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declarationhuman-rights
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Appendix or Appendices
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/freedom-press-2016
https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table
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