Freedom of Speech: The Information Right, The Press Right

Introduction
The right to express our opinion it’s an important and fundamental right, so everyone could be able to express what she/he thinks, her/his opinion, and that could be protect by the single nation right and the international one.
Around the world everyone has or tent to protect her/his right to freedom of expression. This right include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and report information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. The freedom of expression, stamp and pluralism of the media shall be respected.

The use of these freedoms, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.
For example the recent declarations of the founder of wikileaks, Julien Assange, caused a big sensation in European Governments and especially in the American secret services.
The various Governments have been trying to draw a line to the disclosure of private and confidential information relate to the Internet.
Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights that individuals could enjoy.
It is important to the existence of democracy and the respect of human dignity.
It’s also one of the most critical and dangerous rights, because freedom of expression means the freedom to express one’s discontent with the present situation and the aspiration to change it.
We could see, it is one of the most susceptible rights, with governments, and even human rights groups, all over the world constantly trying to restrict it.
In China for example, lots of words are banned on the Internet.
For instance, if we try to type number “64” which contains the date of Tiananmen Square demonstration of 4th June 1989, asterisks will be shown instead of this number or a message will be displayed saying that “ the world is not legal/forbidden”.
Freedom of expression is essential for a democracy nation, to work and public participation in decision-making.
People cannot exercise their right to vote effectively or take part in public decision-making if they do not have free access to information and ideas, they have the right to know how Government work, the State’s decisions and when they’re really take part in a active way; at this point they are able to express their views liberally without any type of censure.
Freedom of expression is a basic element of democracy and for a responsible state.
The violation of this freedom may also affect the right to association and assembly even if they’re not for political scopes or they’re against a Government decision’s.
We could see the violation of this freedom in Journal, Tv program’s or in a simple Cultural Assembly, the censure in XX century it’s really dangerous, we rarely could know when there is a case of important censure.
Progress has been made in recent years in terms of securing respect for the right to freedom of expression.
Hard work has been made to realize this right through specially constructed regional mechanisms.
New opportunities are emerging for greater freedom of expression with the internet and worldwide satellite broadcasting. New threats are emerging too, for example with global media monopolies and pressures on independent media outlets.
The United States, probably like no other nation, has recognized the importance of freedom of expression to safeguard democracy and grow as a nation.
However, this does not mean there are no efforts to try to limit it.
Internet has often been the target of these efforts, as it provides practically everyone with the ability to communicate their ideas to wide audiences and escapes the ability of the state to control it.
The freedom of expression and the freedom of express opinions
The right to freedom of expression upholds the rights of all to express their views and opinions liberally.
It is essentially a right which should be promoted to the maximum extent possible given its essential role in democracy and public participation in political life.
There may be certain extreme forms of expression which need to be limited for the protection of other human rights.
Limiting freedom of expression in such situations is always a fine complementary act.
The right to look for information: receive and report information and ideas
Restrictions on individual journalists: The freedom to impart information can come under attack in a variety of ways and particularly impose on the freedom of the press.
Pressure on journalists poses a very significant threat.
Informal censorship refers to a variety of activities by public officials – ranging from telephone calls and threats to physical attacks – aimed to prevent or punish the publication of critical material.
The right of journalists to protect their sources is also important because with their notices they inform us, they try to know the true thing in every case and report us for our interest, they report to let the people know the right side of cases.
Journalists should not be asked to disclose the origin of their sources, except under certain conditions(it is necessary for a criminal investigation or the defense of a person accused of a criminal offence; they are ordered to do so by a court, after a full opportunity to present their case; necessary’ implies that the information cannot be obtained elsewhere, that it is of great importance and that the public interest in disclosure significantly outweighs the harm to freedom of expression from disclosure).
Privacy laws can obstruct investigative reporting designed at exposing corrupt and illegal practices.
Privacy laws, while important in protecting the private affairs of individuals, should be used without denying discussion of matters of public concern.
The media should be free to report on conflicts and public scrutiny in such situations is essential to controlling humanitarian and human rights abuses.
Exclusion of the media is a very severe restriction on freedom of expression and information in this regard and restrictions should only be placed where there are clear safety concerns.
Information should be impartial, but this is hard to achieve so it is subject often to political repression.
No freedom of press
Does exist the press freedom?
We really don’t know that the freedom of express it’s completely free from all forms of censure or any type of restriction.
The only thing that we know is that: there are restriction everywhere.
Restrictions can take the form of press laws which allow for government interference in the media, or which impose arbitrary restrictions on published content.
For example, in Italy the public television network RAI has been seriously politicized since its creation in 1954.
Now and until the major political changes of the end of the 1980s, Italian public television was controlled by the political party in power, the Christian Democrats. (Report of Ambeyi Ligabo expert on freedom of press, ONU).
All bodies with regulatory authority over the media, print or broadcast, should be fully independent of government.
The request of licenses applications should be open and transparent, with decisions being made on the basis of pre-established criteria in the interest of the public’s right to know.
In addition, the powers of broadcast regulatory bodies should be limited to matters relating to licensing and complaints.
Media monopolies are another way in which the right to receive information from a variety of sources is restricted.
State broadcasting monopolies do not serve the public interest but then in some smaller markets, a monopoly newspaper may be the only way to provide access to local news. Rules on monopolies need to be carefully studied to promote plurality of content, without providing the government with an opportunity to interfere in the media.
Other examples of “structural censorship” i.e. use of economic measures by governments to control information are government advertising, government control over printing, distribution networks, or newsprint and the selective use of taxes.
Access to information held by public authorities
The access to information held by public authorities is another aspect of the freedom of information debate.
International/regional human rights bodies have expressed the public’s right to know and urged governments’ to adopt legislation along the following lines:
the legislation should be guided by the principle of maximum disclosure;
government should be under an obligation to publish key information;
public bodies should actively promote open government;
exceptions should be clear and specific and subject to strict ‘harm’ and ‘public interest’ tests;
individuals should have the right to appeal against a refusal to disclose information to an independent administrative body, which operates in a fair, timely and low-cost manner;
the legislation should provide protection for sources who release information on wrongdoing.
New technologies: Internet, satellite and digital broadcasting
New technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to promote freedom of expression and information.
New technologies are certainly more free than any other kind of media like journals, books or tv programs (because tv, is already an old media, we could not consider that a new technology).
Action by the authorities to limit the spread of harmful or illegal content through the use of these technologies should be carefully designed to guarantee that any measures taken do not inhibit the enormous positive potential of these technologies.
The application of rules designed for other media, such as the print or broadcast sectors, may not be appropriate for the internet.
Obviously, limitations on such technologies will be a fine balancing act between defending the freedom of expression and information and ensuring protection from abuses e.g. spread of child pornography.
Freedom of Information
FOI laws reflect the fundamental premise that all information held by governments and governmental institutions is in principle public and may only be withheld if there are legitimate reasons, such as privacy or security, for not disclosing it.
Over the past 10 years, the right to FOI has been recognized by an increasing number of countries, including developing ones, through the of laws regarding the freedom of Information. In 1990 only 13 countries had adopted national right to information laws, whereas there are currently more than 70 such laws adopted across the world with a further 20-30 of them under consideration in other countries.
Berlin based Transparency International in their recent survey of 159 nations have placed Sweden at number five.The earliest reference to the Right to Information is found in Sweden, where in 1776, a convention on granting Right to Information to all citizens was passed.
After the formation of United Nations, the US General Assembly passed the famous resolution in 1946.
Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, to which India is a signatory also declared freedom of Information to all its citizens.
The Right to Information has already come into force in 56 countries in the world.
These include North America, most of Europe, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. In over 25 Countries efforts are pending to enact the Right to Information law. They are most of South American and East African Countries, Southeast Asian Region and part of Russian federation.
In USA, the right of information Act of 1966 was amended in 1974 after the Watergate.
This proves that the Right to Information is a global phenomenon.
Most of the democratic countries have Right to Information. It can also be correlated to development. Recently, China admitted openly that absence of right to Information was affecting their exports since the manufacturers in China were not aware of the export potential of their products.
The World’s First Freedom