From May 1 to 3, for the first time, the United States hosted World Press Freedom Day [18], an event inspired by African journalists. Every day around the globe free expression is under threat. For the champions of a free media, the dates, places and people may change but not the objective. Twenty years ago it was the Soviet Union’s dictatorship and South Africa’s apartheid that was disintegrating; today another revolution is transforming the Middle East. Courageous journalists, advocates, and new media pioneers proclaimed a single persistent message at this year’s event: freedom of expression is indispensable to democratic growth.
The debates and discussions at the conference showed that the game of government cat and media mouse won’t stop today or tomorrow, but I came away optimistic - the wily mouse is finding more ways to outwit the overbearing cat. The digital revolution has merged with traditional media to provide new tools in this effort. Digital media is expanding almost exponentially. In China, Belarus, Russia, Zimbabwe and transitioning countries like Turkey, Brazil, Tunisia and Egypt, digital tools offset government efforts at control or intimidation.
However, it still takes individuals to stand up and that point came through clearly at the event. It remains the brave few who post the first critical blogs, tweet the early protests and, when the crowds have left the streets, keep the pressure on -- investigating the past, reshaping laws, monitoring new leaders and keeping their compatriots informed. Whatever the tools, it is personal courage and conviction that powers them. I was impressed to see so many of these courageous journalists and advocates lending their voice to the debates at the event this year. Their personal stories from Egypt, Tunisia, Belarus, Iran, and China, among others, illustrated that their efforts remain the primary driver of change.
However, old courage and new tools still must draw on the collective strength of global public principle. Development of an open and vibrant media and truly protected freedom of speech may require years of effort. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the fall of apartheid did not create a free press anymore than the removal of Mubarak or Ben Ali will. A 20-year struggle followed the fall of the Wall and continues in some parts of the region. Journalists and press freedom advocates, often risking their well-being and even their lives, are still pushing their countries toward a sustainable and freer media environment.
Despite the setbacks, many countries have emerged as stable, democratic states, helped in part by relatively small international donor investments in ongoing press freedom programs that improved the quality of news and information available to citizens and the viability of a pluralistic media sector. Media freedom, especially enhanced with the opportunities of new technologies, is increasingly understood as both an underpinning and a measure of democratization and development – and one that requires ongoing support.
I came away from World Press Freedom Day convinced we must also be willing to invest not only in the technology, but also in professional and citizen journalism, developing media businesses, media law reform and authentic advocacy groups over the long-term -- even as we must continue to stand up for the immediate rights of citizens and journalists to express their views through new and old media alike.
Secretary of State Clinton noted this Spring that Middle East reform risks becoming “just a mirage in the desert” if new leaders do not accept the need to listen to and respond to their citizen’s desires for more inclusive, democratic, and efficient governance and economic opportunity. We continue to watch the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia while also hoping the ongoing events in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain move towards a positive resolution that embraces the will of each country’s citizens for more open and responsive governments.
Donor governments are tightening their overall budgets, but media development funds are low cost, high return investments. Encouraging the development of open media systems and freedom of expression will help lead to more democratic, more prosperous, and more stable countries around the world. Recognizing the bravery of those working to free news and information from government control is important to keeping their cause on the world agenda. We, as beneficiaries of well-established free speech protections, however imperfect at times, can do much more by supporting their battle in real terms for the long haul, turning hope and commitment into real change.