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Exploring the interactions among public opinion, governance, and the public sphere

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"People, Spaces, Deliberation" was launched in 2008 by the Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) and is now published by the External Affairs Operational Communication of the World Bank. The blog is edited by Sina Odugbemi and Diana Chung.
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Freedom of the Press

Quote of the Week: Hannen Swaffer

Submitted by Sina Odugbemi on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 10:43

"Freedom of the Press ... is freedom to print such of the proprietor's prejudices as the advertisers don't object to."


Hannen Swaffer (1879-1962)


British journalist and drama critic


 


 

Therefore, Freedom is Evil

Submitted by Anne-Katrin Arnold on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 18:37

"Censorship is a lesser evil than excesses on the part of the press." What an interesting statement - who do you think made it and when?

Actually, it was a member of a Prussian Parliament in the 1840s, and he is cited by Karl Marx in a remarkable series of articles on press freedom.

Watch the Watchdogs

Submitted by Antonio Lambino on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 16:37

Onora O’Neill (2002) contends that advocates of media freedom have erroneously equated the citizen’s right to information and expression with press freedom.  They have claimed for journalists and media organizations what is essentially an individual right reserved for citizens.  A free media, according to O’Neill, “is not an unconditional good… Good public debate must not only be accessible to but also assessable by its audiences.”

Accessibility is often measured through indicators that quantify access to various media, such as newspaper circulation or the number of TVs, radios, and computers per thousand people in the population (e.g., UNESCO, World Bank).  Assessability, on the other hand, is driven by normative standards and can be carried out on at least two levels.