Laws stands higher than the freedom of press
After statement like “Laws stands higher than the freedom of press” the workshop participant from “After the cartoon-conflict – has freedom of press changed in Europe” kept standing where they were and hesitating which oppinion to take during our exercise of agreeing and disagreeing. Maybe journalists care so much that civil servants obey laws and we claim that everyone should, but are journalists exceptions?
At first most of us said “Yes” to the statement “Laws stands higher than the freedom of press”, but I guess it was because everyone was guided by the idea of justice for everyone and everything. Because we were taught so. And probably we were even taught to think in this direction.
Among us there were also people who insisted on the contrary answer. Though, the group “disagree” was coming close to the middle, expressing arguments for the dissatisfaction with laws and set up rules. Not many of us are familiar with the formal side of justice, but still some examples have been found. For instance, in Israel the Government uses laws as an excuse for not giving information to the public claiming to save the “national security”. Well, such tradition is widely known in other countries as well.
There are also countries where it is prohibited to write controversial things about Royal families. In Ukraine the question is also very complicated, as most journalists’ careers start with breaking the law, and almost every journalist gets paid an official and non-official salary. So how can you as a journalist then ask the public servants for lawful actions?
Well, the thing is, rules are broken sometimes. And it’s the job of a journalist to reveal those cases. But can one make the situation familiar to the public using purely “official” methods? That’s the question. Sometimes you have to apply some tricks to resist corruption and bureaucracy, as it often happens in post-communist countries.
In fact, law are written by some hundred people, and can sometimes interfere the journalists job.When journalists break the rules with awareness of doing unfair job, when committing crime, trying illegal things to show how easy it is to commit, it might be unreasonable. In such cases some restrictions, moral or legal limits may be reasonable.
Posted in 2006+07 M100| 02.09.07
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