Today is the annual celebration of World Press Freedom Day. On this day participants commemorate the fundamental principles of media freedom; highlight long-standing and emerging threats to that freedom; and pay tribute to journalists and activists who have risked their safety to advance public access to news and information.
The main theme this year is “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers”. Staying true to the theme, this Embassy is posting this message, and ones from the UK’s Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office Minister responsible for human rights on a wide range of new media including our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, as well our Embassy and FCO websites.
The UK has a reputation for respecting and encouraging freedom of expression and press freedom – a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So this seems an appropriate opportunity to set out the UK’s position on this important issue:
- Freedom of expression is fundamental to building democracy. Citizens must be allowed to discuss and debate issues; challenge their governments; and make informed decisions.
- Journalists, bloggers, media organisations and individuals must be allowed to operate and to express themselves freely and safely and within international standards.
- Governments need to respond to legitimate aspirations with reform not repression. Encouraging an open and effective press serves to improve the environment for long-term social, political and economic stability.
- As highlighted in the British Foreign Office’s 2010 Human Rights Report, our missions around the world regularly raise general and specific concerns about harassment, intimidation and assassination of journalists; call for prompt and full investigation of individual cases; and support criminal justice mechanisms and judicial reform to deal with attacks on journalists.
As part of our continuing work to promote an unrestricted press and freedom of expression I am also happy to share with you that this Embassy will soon be working with the Excellence in Journalism Foundation in their efforts to recognise and encourage journalistic talent in the Hungarian media. Watch this space for more news on this soon.
Further information about World Press Freedom Day is available via UNESCO’s website.
Foreign Office Minister for human rights policy Jeremy Browne recorded a message for World Press Freedom Day 2011.