Chapter One The Press In Mauritius Media Essay

Chapter One The Press In Mauritius Media Essay For the health of democracy, access to information is really essential. In any democracy, citizens have the rights and responsibilities to participate in public matters. Knowledge about a society is obtained through free debates, newspapers, magazines, television and radio. All these are possible when there is a free and independent press. In all democratic countries, freedom of the press has been a treasured right. Press freedom is a pillar of democracy   [ 1 ]   . Often, the press is referred as the fourth pillar of a country   [ 2 ]   . Such freedom should be free from interference of the state. The preservation of the freedom of the press may be done through constitutional or legal protections. In the present chapter, the definition and the importance of the press freedom will be analyzed first. Then, the evolution and development of the written and audio-visual press in Mauritius will be examined before considering the constitutional foundation of the freedom of the pre ss of the country. 1.1 Freedom of Press 1.1.1 Definition of freedom of the press Everywhere in the world, the meaning of press freedom differs. Different countries possess different degrees of freedom of the press   [ 3 ]   . This suggests that freedom of the press is not absolute in the world   [ 4 ]   . In universal terms, defining freedom of the press is difficult. Various definitions to freedom of the press have been attributed by different scholars and in many text books. Lieberman (1953) defined freedom of the press as the right to serve, without government interference and with police protection, and the most fundamental right of freedom of information   [ 5 ]   . As for Dennis and Merrill (1996), freedom of the press is the right to communicate ideas, opinions, and information through the printed world without government restraint   [ 6 ]   . For both authors, the â€Å"right to share information† and â€Å"no government intrusion† is among the main elements of this freedom. For other scholars, free press is an independent adversary   [ 7 ]   performing the function of watchdog preventing the State from aggrandizing and abusing the rights of its citizen. Freedom of the press is not only the right of media; it is the right of the citizens also. Going back to history, in 1791, freedom of the press was legally guaranteed by the U.S Constitution, â€Å"congress shall make no lawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦abridging the freedom of speech or of the pressà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Freedom of the press was recognized by the National Assembly of France in the Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This freedom was considered to be a fundamental right in Europe and in the United States. In 1948, the United Nations declared it a universal right and adopted Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of the press is derived from the fundamental right of freedom of information. The latter is a à ¢â‚¬Å"human right and the touchstone of all the freedoms. It implies the right to gather, transmit and publish news anywhere and everywhere without fetters†Ã‚   [ 8 ]   . The rights to seek and to disseminate information are of particular importance to the press. Along with freedom of information, freedom of expression also plays an essential role in press freedom. In