Image via WikipediaWorld Press Freedom Day is observed on May 3 every year, to remind and inform the international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental to human liberty.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May World Press Freedom Day in order to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press. It’s also intended to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression, as enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991. Of course, as is so often the case with the UN and other large bodies intended to legislate worldwide but denied the necessary powers to actually do the job, the freedom of the press is denied in many countries. In some, this is due to a political stance that denies the possibility of opposing points of view, in some, a dictator controls everything the people see and hear, in others the appearance of a free press is so cleverly presented that the citizens are fooled into thinking they receive unbiased news, when, in fact, they are fed the lies and biased opinions of those who control the press machinery. That this happens widely in western countries that see themselves as bastions of free will, is an illustration of the duplicity inherent in most political systems and supported by multinational commerce with an interest in maintaining the status quo.
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