Today is World Press Freedom Day:

Power of the Fourth Estate

Aditha DISSANAYAKE

In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the "Estates General", writes Jeffery Archer in his novel "The Fourth Estate". "The first Estate consisted of three hundred nobles. The second Estate, three hundred clergy. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons said, "Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all".

Today, the fourth estate is the public press, referred to as a collective, encompassing photographers, journalists, television broadcasters, and radio announcers. Today, in view of the dynamics of communications technology - we speak of "freedom of communication": an expression that refers to every person's right to exercise both the freedom of expression and the freedom to access information.

Social scientists define this freedom as liberation based on the ideal of an open society, where everyone can participate in the public processes of forming political opinion and formulating political demands and objectives. As Wolfgang R. Langenbucher observes in his essay "The Fourth Estate: Watchdog of democracy and freedom", "this type of constitutional statute is based on many important pre-conditions: it presupposes tolerance of dissidents, calmness in face of criticism, the acceptance of plurality, and patience with often prolonged and erring social discussions. The use of violence, or even the threat of its use, does not fit in with a political culture that is imbued with such a high level of freedom."

It is only too obvious that these ideal conditions do not often exist in the real world. In reality the freedom of the press is threatened by censorship, and by media monopolies. Often the media depends on advertisements and sponsors and it is the financial giants who control the media. Statistics reveal a total two-thirds of the world's population lives in countries where there is no freedom of expression or the press. Here is a painful truth that depicts a horrifying picture of worldwide abuses and the struggles to defend this freedom against constant attempts to restrict it, for, without freedom of communication a society foregoes the prospect of developing a thriving economy and culture.

Without freedom of the press, no democracy - without democracy, no freedom of the press: the freedom to inform and to be informed acts as a gauge for the respect of human rights - and it is also a learning process in every democracy. - Wolfgang R. Langenbucher

Needless to say access to accurate and complete information is essential to the health of democracy for at least two reasons. First, it ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices rather than acting out of ignorance or misinformation. Second, information serves as a "checking function" by ensuring that elected representatives uphold their oaths of office and carry out the wishes of those who elected them as well as keeping a check on unethical and harmful business practices.

For, finally everything boils down to a clever choice of words. The best examples are the misleading phrases the Defense Department of the United States used during the Vietnam war. Instead of "forced transfer of civilians" they said "relocation", and instead of "lies" they said "elements in the credibility gap." By using carefully chosen phrases, the Defense Department made their war efforts seem less harmful to the people in the United States. It's not "tax cuts" they said, it's "tax relief."

Enter the United Nations. In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day 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.

A joint Message issued by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day 2012 states "Freedom of expression is one of our most precious rights. It underpins every other freedom and provides a foundation for human dignity.

Free, pluralistic and independent media is essential for its exercise. .. Media freedom entails the freedom to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas

through any media and regardless of frontiers, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This freedom is essential for healthy and vibrant societies.

They also add "We call on States, professional media and non-governmental organisations everywhere to join forces with the United Nations to promote online and offline freedom of expression in accordance with internationally accepted principles. This is a pillar of individual rights, a foundation for healthy societies and a force for social transformation. "

However, as Jürgen Krönig points out in Politics and the Media let us "avoid any misunderstanding" for, a natural tension between politics and the media has always existed and that is right and necessary. As Tocqueville wrote in the nineteenth century: "It would diminish the importance of newspapers to say they serve to maintain freedom. They maintain civilization".

This observation is surely true today, as it was then.

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