Information is power. The competition of ideas makes all of us stronger. Few people can make a living, educate their children, or promote their ideas and interests with government officials without a healthy supply of free-flowing information. Citizens need accurate, timely, independent news they can trust to engage in the policy discussions and public debates that form the foundation of free societies.
Media freedom keeps societies and economies vibrant, energetic, and healthy. When the free flow of news and information is cut off, individuals suffer. Societies suffer. Economies suffer.
That is why today the United States joins the world in observing World Press Freedom Day, which is our opportunity to spotlight the importance of media freedom around the world.
In the past year, the world witnessed both the promise of, and the peril to, a free press. Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, journalists, bloggers, filmmakers and pundits chronicled the protests sweeping across the region, while some citizens armed with nothing but cell phones risked their lives to upload the truth.
In doing so, they were exercising a fundamental freedom enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “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 and regardless of frontiers.”
Yet too many governments attempt to censor the media, directly or indirectly. Too many investigative journalists are being silenced, many for exposing corruption at local, state, or national levels. Too many attacks and murders of journalists go unpunished.
In Armenia, we welcome more even-handed TV media coverage of political parties in the lead up to parliamentary elections. Equal access to the media is an important component of free and fair elections. A level playing for all parties requires media access. More generally, media freedom is the bedrock of all open and democratic societies, the catalyst for an open exchange of ideas, the forum for national discussions.
Journalists must also do their part. Rigorous and unbiased reporting by the media allows citizens to make independent, informed choices about their future leadership. News outlets bear a responsibility to citizens to report accurate and timely information and should promote the goal of free-flowing information.
As we mark World Press Freedom Day, all governments should take the steps necessary to create space for independent journalists to do their work without fear of violence or persecution. We pay special tribute to those courageous journalists, bloggers, and citizens who have sacrificed their lives, health, or freedom so that others could know the truth. And we honor the role of free and independent media in creating sustainable democracies and open, healthy societies.
John Heffern
U.S. Ambassador