The press, and who gets to speak
Let anyone publish without a licence, protect what they publish from punishment for criticising the powerful, keep the media many and independent, protect journalists and their sources, and hold the press to correcting its own errors.
Everything for this step
- Field guide
- None yet. A guide goes deeper than a step: technique, identification and the hazards.
- Builds
- None yet.
- Reference sheets
- None.
- Track
- Records and writing, level 4 of 4
Why this matters
Printing makes copies cheap; whether people may use it to say what they find is a political decision. Every other institution on this ladder — elections, courts, audit, the market — depends on people learning what those in power are doing, and the press is how most of them learn it.
International law sets the rules. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the freedom "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds"; the UN Human Rights Committee holds that licensing journalists is incompatible with it, that punishing a publication solely for criticising the government can never be justified, and that imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty for defamation (UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 34). The threat that remains is violence: 85 % of the killings of journalists recorded by UNESCO since 2006 are unresolved (UNESCO, 2024).
The shape of it
- Guarantee freedom of expression in the constitution, with restrictions only by law, for listed reasons, and no wider than necessary.
- Require no licence to publish a newspaper or to work as a journalist.
- Never punish criticism of the government, and take defamation out of the criminal law.
- Protect journalists' sources from forced disclosure.
- Keep the media many: no state monopoly, limits on concentration, and an independent public broadcaster.
- Investigate and prosecute every attack on a journalist.
- Hold the press to correcting its errors and separating news from advertising and propaganda.
Doing it, step by step
The summary above says what has to happen. This says how, with the numbers that decide whether it works.
1 · Guarantee the freedom, and limit the limits
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects the right "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds", including political discourse, commentary on public affairs, journalism and teaching (General Comment 34, paragraph 11).
It may be restricted only on three conditions together (paragraph 22):
- the restriction is provided by law;
- it serves a listed purpose: the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, or public health or morals;
- it is necessary and proportionate to that purpose.
Write the right and these conditions into the constitution, and let independent courts strike down any restriction that fails them.
2 · No licence to publish, no licence to report
Anyone may publish. It is incompatible with article 19 to refuse permission to publish newspapers and other print media except where specific content can lawfully be prohibited (General Comment 34, paragraph 39), and general systems for registering or licensing journalists are incompatible with it: journalism is a function shared by full-time reporters, bloggers and anyone who publishes (paragraph 44).
Broadcasting on limited frequencies may need a licence, but the criteria and fees must be reasonable, objective, clear and transparent, and spectrum shared fairly between public, commercial and community stations (paragraph 39). Press passes for access to particular places are allowed, on objective criteria.
3 · Never punish criticism, and decriminalise defamation
Penalising a media outlet, publisher or journalist solely for criticising the government "can never be considered" a necessary restriction (General Comment 34, paragraph 42).
For defamation (paragraph 47):
- allow the defence of truth, and recognise public interest in the subject as a defence;
- for comment on public figures, avoid punishing untrue statements published in error without malice;
- avoid excessive damages, and limit the costs a defendant can be made to pay;
- consider decriminalising defamation altogether; imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty.
4 · Protect sources
Without confidential sources, the press learns only what institutions choose to announce. Recognise the journalistic privilege not to disclose sources (General Comment 34, paragraph 45), and compel disclosure only by a judge, for the most serious cases, where nothing else will do. Journalists' own code says the same: observe professional secrecy about sources obtained in confidence (IFJ Global Charter of Ethics, 2019, article 7).
5 · Keep the media many and independent
The state should not have monopoly control over the media, and should prevent undue dominance or concentration by private groups that harms the diversity of sources and views (General Comment 34, paragraph 40), and encourage independent and diverse media, including for minorities (paragraph 14).
A public broadcaster must operate independently, with its editorial freedom guaranteed and funded in a way that does not undermine that independence (paragraph 16): a fixed licence fee or multi-year settlement, not a yearly grant the government can cut. Publish who owns every major outlet.
6 · Protect journalists, and end impunity
An attack on a person for what they say or publish — arrest, threats, torture or killing — is never compatible with article 19, and every such attack should be investigated promptly and the perpetrators prosecuted (General Comment 34, paragraph 23).
UNESCO counts the cost: 162 journalists were killed in 2022 and 2023, and 85 % of the killings it has recorded since 2006 remain unresolved (UNESCO, 2024). Assign attacks on journalists to a dedicated prosecutor, report each case's progress publicly, and treat a killing that goes unpunished as a failure of the state.
7 · Hold the press to its own standards
A free press must still be honest, and that is enforced by the press itself, not the government. The International Federation of Journalists' Global Charter of Ethics (2019) sets the duties:
- respect for the facts and for the public's right to truth is the first duty (article 1);
- report only facts whose origin is known (article 3);
- correct errors in a timely, explicit, complete and transparent manner (article 6);
- avoid any confusion between journalism and advertising or propaganda.
Set up a press council funded by publishers but independent of them, to hear complaints and order prominent corrections.