Freedom of Press Around the World by Umer Mustafa

1. GLOBAL COMMUNICATION
NAME : UMER MUSTAFA
REG# 394-FSS.MSMC/F1
BATCH# F18 MS - Media & Communication Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
UNIVERSITY: International Islamic University Islamabad

2. PRESENTATION TOPIC
Freedom Of Press Around The World

3. FREEDOM ?
• The power or right to act, speak, or think as one
wants and what he observes
Freedom OF Press?
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the
principle that communication and expression through
various media, including printed and electronic media,
especially published materials, should be considered a
right to be exercised freely.

4. Conceptualizing press freedom
 Press freedom and the right of access to information are the general right to
freedom of expression and opinion.
 Press freedom is not limited to media institutions, as important as these actors are as
users and symbols of freedom of expression (and as a major research emphasis
within this Report).
 More fundamentally, press freedom covers the freedom of all individuals or
institutions to use .
 This concept of media freedom covers whether media are censored or banned
and blocked; and whether other laws are used against media and people
producing journalism in order to arbitrarily restrict freedom of expression
not sanctioned by international standards.

5. THE UNITED NATIONS' 1948 UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS
"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 REGARDLESS OF FRONTIERS".

6.  The media of Sweden has a long tradition going back to the 1766 law
enacting freedom of the press .
 Sweden was the first country in the world to adopt freedom of the press
into its constitution with the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766.
 The press is subsidized by the government and is owned by many actors
Swedish television and radio were until the mid-1980s a government
monopoly but nowadays subsidies are more direct in form, and are tied
to certain requirements, e.g. a minimum of 2000 subscribers.
 Sweden is the second-best country in the world for press freedom
in Reporters Without Borders (RWB)
FREEDOM OF PRESS IN SWEDEN

7. 1 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES
Freedom of the press in the United States is legally protected by the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment is generally
understood to prevent the government from interfering with the distribution of
information and opinions.
It was adopted on December 15, 1791.
Nevertheless, freedom of the press In the United States is subject to certain
restrictions, such as defamation law, a lack of protection for whistleblowers,
barriers to information access and constraints caused by public hostility to
journalists.

8.  In 2018, the U.S. ranked 45th in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom
Index. This is an overall measure of freedom available to the press, including a
range of factors including government censorship, control over journalistic access,
and whistleblower protections
 International agencies rank the United States behind most other Western nations
for press freedom, but ahead of most Asian, African and South American countries.

9. CENTRAL, NORTHERN AND WESTERN EUROPE HAS A LONG TRADITION OF
FREEDOM OF SPEECH, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ENTITLED EU CHARTER: STANDARD
SETTINGS FOR MEDIA FREEDOM ACROSS THE EU ADAPTED IN MAY 2013.
THE DOCUMENT STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF MONITORING AND SUPERVISING
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL LEGISLATIONS REGARDING MEDIA FREEDOM
2 Media Freedom in the European Union

10. WITH IN THE EU ENLARGEMENT PROCESS, GUARANTEEING MEDIA
FREEDOM IS NAMED A "KEY INDICATOR OF A COUNTRY'S READINESS TO
BECOME PART OF THE EU

11. 3 PRESS FREEDOM IN GREAT BRITAIN
According to the New York Times, "Britain has a long tradition of
a free, inquisitive press, but unlike the United States,
Britain has no constitutional guarantee of press freedom because
the constitution of Great Britain is not written
 Freedom of the press was established in Great Britain in 1695.
Until 1694, England had an elaborate system of licensing; the
most recent was seen in the Licensing of the Press Act 1662.
No publication was allowed without the accompaniment of a
government-granted license
BBC is the world most admired public broadcaster in the world
Its headquarters is present in London

12. 4 MEDIA FREEDOM IN DENMARK–NORWAY
Between September 4, 1770 and October 7, 1771 the kingdom
of Denmark–Norway had the most unrestricted freedom of
press of any country in Europe.
 This occurred during the regime of Johann Friedrich
Struenses , whose second act was to abolish the old censorship
laws.
Norway is the top country in the world for press freedom in an
era in which global media freedom is coming increasingly
under threat

13. 5 PRESS FREEDOM IN ITALY
 After the Italian unification in 1861, the Albertine Statute of 1848 was
adopted as the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy. The Statute granted the
freedom of the press with some restrictions in case of abuses and in religious
matters, as stated in Article 28
 The press shall be free, but the law may suppress abuses of this freedom.
However, Bibles, catechisms, liturgical and prayer books shall not be printed
without the prior permission of the Bishop.
 After the abolition of the monarchy in 1946 and the abrogation of the Statute
in 1948, the Constitution of the Republic of Italy guarantees the freedom of the
press, as stated in Article 21
 Italy ranked 46th number out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index

14. 6 MEDIA FREEDOM IN RUSSIA
 Media of Russia include television and radio channels, periodicals
and Internet media, which according to the laws of the Russian Federation may
be either state or private property.
 The Russian constitution provides for freedom of speech and press
 As of 2013 Russia ranked 148th out of 179 countries in the Press Freedom
Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. In the 2015 Freedom
House Freedom of the Press report Russia scored 83 (100 being the worst), mostly
because of new laws introduced in 2014 that further extended the state control
over mass media.

15.  The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well known since the early
1990s but concern at the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna
Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international
monitors spoke of several dozen deaths.
 Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia is
observed on 15 December every year.

16. 7 MEDIA FREEDOM IN PAKISTAN
Media in Pakistan provides information
on television, radio, cinema, newspapers, and magazines
in Pakistan.
 Majority of media in Pakistan is privately owned. Pakistan has
around 300 privately owned daily newspapers.
The media represents the society and consequently is
regarded as the fourth pillar of the State in Pakistan.

17. ARTICLE: 19 FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN THE
CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN
ARTICLE 19 SAYS:
Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and
expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any
reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory
of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any
part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order,
decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court.

18.  The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA, formerly
RAMBO - Regulatory Authority for Media and Broadcast Organizations) was
formed in 2002 to "facilitate and promote a free, fair and independent electronic
media" including opening the broadcasting market in Pakistan.
 By the end of 2009 PEMRA issued
 78 satellite TV licenses
 issued "landing rights" to 28 TV channels operating from abroad, with more
under consideration;
 issued licenses for 129 FM radio stations, including 18 non-commercial licenses
to leading universities offering courses mass communication and six licenses
in Azad Jammu and Kashmir
 registered 2,346 cable TV systems serving an estimated 8 million households

19.  In Pakistan Media enjoys freedom of expression in spite of political
pressure and direct bans sometimes administered by political stake
holders. Political pressure on Pakistani media is mostly done indirectly.
 The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has been
used to silence the broadcast media by either suspending licenses or by
simply threatening to do so.
 In 2018 Press Freedom Index, Reporters without borders ranked Pakistan
number 139 out of 180 countries based on freedom of the press.

20. MEDIA LAWS IN PAKISTAN
 There are a number of legislative and regulatory mechanisms that
directly and indirectly affect the media.
 Besides the Press and Publication Ordinance (PPO) mentioned, these
laws include the Printing Presses and Publications Ordinance 1988,
the Freedom of Information Ordinance of 2002,
 Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) of 2002,
the Defamation Ordinance of 2002, the Contempt of Court Ordinance
of 2003, the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration
Ordinance 2003, the Press Council Ordinance 2002, and lastly the
Access to Information Ordinance of 2006.

21. ACCORDING TO THE SURVEYS OF RWB(REPORTES
WITHOUT BORDERS)

22.  THE COUNTRY WITH THE LOWEST DEGREE OF PRESS
FREEDOM WAS
1 MYANMAR
2 NORTH KOREA
3 TURKMENISTAN
4 IRAN
5 ERITREA
 Press Freedom Index

23. The country with the highest degree of press
freedom was
1Norway
2 Iceland
3 Netherlands
4 Finland
5 Sweden

24. THANK YOU ALL