On May 3, World press freedom dayis celebrated with an international conference in Paris, at the headquarters of theUnesco. Other ceremonies (such as the one organized at Milanoal Garden of the Righteous, by the Gariwo association) take place in those democratic states where the expression “freedom to inform” makes sense in the daily reality of the population. Never like today, the right to freely express one’s opinions it is a detector of very different realities. The differences between democratic countries and autocracies have increased and a growing distrust has developed. They seem like different planets, despite the hopes born in recent decades on the wave of communication technologies. The new walls seem stronger than even the new technologies. Globalization exists in the economy, not in information.
Last fall, theInternational Union of the French-speaking Press held a conference on freedom of information in Paris where this diversity was dramatically highlighted. But we cannot stop at this observation. It is obvious that the situation of European democracies cannot be compared, for example, to that of African states where today opponents are systematically intimidated and even arrested. However, this by no means indicates an absence of very serious problems in European or American democracies. No one has the right to console himself by saying that others are worse off. Press Freedom Day makes sense if it becomes a time to reflect on the challenges that everyone faces and on which the conquest or maintenance of democracy depends.
Where political powers are freely chosen by the citizens, today we realize the limits and problems of the democratic institutions themselves. In most European countries (such as Italia, France and many others still) the participation of citizens in the polls drops alarmingly and one wonders how to revive the participation of the population in the life of representative institutions. This result cannot be achieved without true freedom of the press. Here is the reflection on future of information become one with the one on the future of democracy.
A country like the Francein which many media were in the hands of cooperatives of journalists or editorial entrepreneurs, today sees the dominance of other groups. Why do they rush to information? The privatization (1987) of the first public TV channel (Tf1) benefited the construction giant Bouygueswhich then also expanded into the mobile telephony sector just like other current major players in the transalpine media landscape (Bolloré, Drahi, Niel). The newspaper Le Figaro, once in the hands of the publisher Hersant, today belongs to the Dassault family, which supplies the state with its main military aircraft. The newspapers The echoes e The Parisian belong to the luxury giant LVMH. The media-institution relationship winds through doubts, caused by the particular interests of those who own the media themselves. Legitimate but sometimes disturbing interests.
Even where freedom of the press appears to have been acquired, it is therefore important to understand that this principle must be interpreted every day in relation to the real possibilities and real wishes of ensure in-depth and pluralistic information. It should be interpreted first and foremost by journalists, but we need to ask ourselves about this too. What are the specifics and the deontology of journalists in a context where new technologies allow everyone to address information to a huge audience? A question to which the representatives of the category should perhaps strive with increasing determination to find answers in step with the times.
Among the countries in which the freedom of the press is attacked on a daily basis is today the Russia of Putin, who assumed the terrible responsibility of starting the war against neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In today’s Russia, journalists risk systematic persecution and heavy criminal sentences if they express positions that disagree with the official line. Their situation can only be at the center of common reflections on the occasion of this World Press Freedom Day. It is the thirtieth Day since this anniversary was created under the aegis of Unesco. The thirtieth and perhaps the most important.