But for about 84 percent of the about 6.9 billion people with whom we share this planet, that's not the case. They live in nations where the press is only "partly" free from government control or criminal intimidation, or not free at all.
Those global press freedom figures are from a 2010 report by Freedom House, an independent human rights organization, which has compiled such data annually since 1980. The group's 2011 report was issued Monday.
The figures are worth noting as the United States hosts this year's World Press Freedom Day today with the theme "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers." It's an appropriate focus given the dramatic presence of new media methods and technology in political and social turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Freedom House report notes that "in response to the growing popularity of Internet-based applications like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, many governments have started targeting the new platforms as part of their censorship strategies." In 12 of 37 countries examined, the group said, officials imposed temporary or total bans on such new technology.
But these kinds of ratings and reports tell only part of the story of the worldwide struggle to gather and report the news freely and report it without fear:
• Eight journalists were attacked in recent days in Uganda while trying to report on the second day of a walk-to-work campaign protesting fuel prices and government's inefficiency.
• The editor of a Ukrainian English-language newspaper was fired on the spot on April 15 reportedly for insisting on publishing an interview with a government minister regarding possible international trade violations. From Bahrain to Sri Lanka, journalists have been arrested for simply doing their job.
• And, in a ceremony set for May 16, the Journalists Memorial at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., will add the names of 59 journalists who died in 2010 in the course of reporting the news. Eighteen names of newly identified journalists who died in previous years also will be added, bringing the overall total to 2,084.
Information freely gathered and freely reported is the enemy of despots, dictators and criminal cartels. For democracies, it would seem just as obvious that a free and unfettered flow of information is the lifeblood of systems that depend on an informed citizenry to make the ultimate governing decisions.
Newly created global news outlets on the Web, widely used social media and so-called "data dumps" by groups like WikiLeaks do raise legitimate issues ranging from personal privacy to credibility to national security.
Serious critics of the press, here and abroad, are right to point to errors of fact and judgment by journalists.
But on at least one day, we all ought to pause to appreciate the value -- and for far too few, the unique national asset -- that is a free press.
Wikipedia:
The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day[1][2] to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.
UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger. Created in 1997, the prize is awarded on the recommendation of an independent jury of 14 news professionals. Names are submitted by regional and international non-governmental organizations working for press freedom, and by UNESCO member states.
The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano's writings had offended Colombia's powerful drug barons.
UNESCO also marks World Press Freedom Day each year by bringing together media professionals, press freedom organisations and UN agencies to assess the state of press freedom worldwide and discuss solutions for addressing challenges. Each conference is centred around a theme related to press freedom, including good governance, media coverage of terrorism, impunity and the role of media in post-conflict countries.
The 2011 World Press Freedom Day celebration is being held in Washington, D.C., USA on May 1-3. This will be the first time the United States has hosted the World Press Freedom Day celebration. The theme of this year's event is 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The event will affirm fundamental principles of media freedom in the digital age—the ability of citizens to voice their opinions and access diverse, independent information sources—20 years after the original declaration was made in Windhoek, Namibia. The World Press Freedom Day 2011 program and agenda are available here.
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