"The Right to Live? Or, The Right to Expression?"
Journal Name:
- İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi
| Author Name | University of Author | Faculty of Author |
|---|---|---|
Abstract (2. Language):
Press freedom is considered vital to democracies, and any restriction on this freedom can be described as damaging. Over years, governments have used various justifications in limiting freedoms. This article focuses on one of those justification factors, threats to national security, in line with a famous historian Fredrick S. Siebert's Proposition II. Professor Siebert wrote his book Freedom of Press in England, 1476-1776 in 1952. In this book, Siebert offered two propositions that characterized governmental control over the press. His Proposition II claimed that "the area of freedom contracts and the enforcement of restraints increases as the stresses on the stability of the government and of the structure of society increase." (Siebert 1965: 10).
Many governments under normal circumstances are not likely to interfere with press freedom. But if they are attacked or believe that they are seriously threatened, governments with their supporting public opinion (if any) are likely to exert control of various kinds, in line with Siebert's Proposition II. The examples of Turkey and the United States, as argued in this article, seem to prove that.
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