A Free Press: A National Goal

So Lebanon is 61st in the world in press freedoms out of 175 countries, according to the press freedom index. That’s not bad I suppose. PR-wise it’s a coup because we are “32 places ahead of Israel” as The Daily Star has reminded us, but why can’t we be in the top 20? Is that not a goal worth aiming for?

As long as the Church can ban books and films at will, and as long as we tear out displeasing pages from history books, we may as well reconcile ourselves to 61st place. Reporters Without Borders was actually being generous; I would have been less generous.

For a country like ours, with a proud and rich media history, having the first printing press in the Middle East, and having sacrificed so many of our best and brightest on the alter of media freedom, we owe it to ourselves to be number one. Not only to say that we are, but to actually earn that rank.

I would like to place this challenge before the nation and its leaders, this should be a national goal, we should aim to be number one in the press freedom index.

Freedom of expression is absolute, regardless of whether or not certain words offend or disgust some people’s sensibilities (short of liable of course). All forms of censorship should be abolished.

Both the International Convention on Human Right and the European Convention on Human Rights guarantee freedom of expression and especially of the press.

Each society has its own standards of what constitutes proper or improper speech, these standards govern how media organizations’ self censor. Such justification, however, does not make what they do right. Editors can very easily fall into the trap of over censoring themselves, concealing vital information or background because the information might offend certain groups.

People in a democratic society deserve to know the whole truth as unpleasant or uncomfortable as that truth may be. They should be mature enough to allow opposing points of view to be heard. It is our mission as the fourth estate to give people a truly free press in Lebanon.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers..."

The European Courts of Human Rights have stated that Article 10 protects not only "...the information or ideas that are favorably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also those that offend, shock or disturb; such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broad-mindedness without which there is no democratic society."

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