Centenial Celebration

Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.

Date: November 25, 2024 Mon

Time: 9:55 pm

Results for freedom of the press

2 results found

Author: Estevez, Dolia

Title: Protecting Press Freedom in an Environment of Violence and Impunity

Summary: This chapter reviews the situation of violence against the press in Mexico and what each of the different actors involved is doing, or not doing, to address a problem that in some Mexican states has reached alarming crisis levels. The essay examines the political willingness and steps taken by the federal and legislative branches of government to protect freedom of expression, through the exercise of journalism. It discusses measures taken by reporters, editors, media companies and civil society, to defend that right. Special attention is given to explain how the failure of federal and local authorities to effectively prosecute crimes against reporters has resulted in almost total impunity. Most crimes againts reporters remain unsolved, authorities rarely determine who perpetrated the crime and there are no prosecutions much less convictions. The report also examines the extent to which editors and journalists, working in states overwhelmed with violence, have engaged in widespread self-censorship out of fear for their lives. The report emphasizes freedom of expression and a free press as fundamental and universal rights protected by international law. These rights are also consider an effective way to measure the strength of a democracy.

Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 21p.

Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Accessed December 8, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Protecting%20Press%20Freedom.%20Estevez.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Mexico

URL: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Protecting%20Press%20Freedom.%20Estevez.pdf

Shelf Number: 120411

Keywords:
Freedom of the Press
Journalism
Media
Violence

Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Title: Violence against journalists and media workers: Inter-American standards and national practices on prevention, protection and prosecution of perpetrators.

Summary: The murder of journalists and members of the media is the most extreme form of censorship. As the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ("Inter-American Court" or "Court") has observed, "journalism can only be exercised freely when those who carry out this work are not victims of threats or physical, mental or moral attacks or other acts of harassment." Such actions infringe, in a particularly radical way, not only the affected person's individual freedom of thought and expression, but also the collective dimension of this right. Acts of violence against journalists (term that should be understood broadly, from a functional perspective) or media workers for reasons connected to their professional activity violate both the individual's right to express and impart ideas, opinions and information, as well as the rights of citizens and societies as a whole to seek and receive information and ideas of any nature. Regarding this, as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression has stated, an attack on a journalist is "an attack against the principles of transparency and accountability, as well as the right to hold opinions and to participate in public debates, which are essential for democracy". When these crimes are committed with impunity, it encourages the commission of similar violent acts and can result in communicators being silenced or self censoring. As will be shown later on, impunity has a strong chilling effect on the exercise of freedom of expression, and its consequences for democracy - which depends on the free, open and dynamic exchange of ideas and information - are particularly serious. As the Inter-American Court has found on a number of occasions, freedom of expression is the cornerstone of the very existence of a democratic society; consequently, it can be said that a society that is not well informed is not a society that is truly free.

Details: Washington, DC: IACHR, 2013. 189p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2015 at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/expression/docs/reports/2014_04_22_Violence_WEB.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: International

URL: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/expression/docs/reports/2014_04_22_Violence_WEB.pdf

Shelf Number: 135197

Keywords:
Freedom of the Press
Journalists, Crime against
Journalists, Violence against