Today with my pen:
Column by Muhammad Amir Siddique Journalist Vienna Austria.
Press Freedom Day: (3 May 2024)
Today my topic is about freedom of press as you guys know I always write about humanity in my column but I am a journalist myself and I want to write some bitter truths about journalists day. Every year, on the occasion of International Journalism Day, journalistic organizations reiterate the demands of highlighting the effectiveness of freedom of the press and removing the obstacles in the way of writing and speaking.
Freedom will disappear:
The first condition of freedom, which is actually an imagination and a phenomenon, is its restriction. After four thousand years of experience, man organized freedom in the form of a state. If the state is dispersed, freedom will disappear. However, freedom The philosophy of journalism is still unclear and such a complex imagination, the world’s journalistic wisdom has not been able to determine its limits and limitations. However, after a long struggle, Western society, through the first amendment to the American Constitution in 1791, established its own freedom without censorship. Having the right to print and circulate opinion, in the last two hundred years the Western media has carved out a proper space for itself within a legal framework, in which it itself has been protected and society has been spared its powerful waves. But our society has not yet been able to regulate the power of the media and here the flood of thousands of conflicting news is dispersing the intellectual unity of the society by increasing confusion.
Information is a form of power:
Of course, information is a form of power and only those who know the art of using this power can deserve freedom, but since journalism has been used as a tool of transformational diplomacy and code of governance, freedom of the press has The question and its answers changed. Now it has become more important to protect the minds of the society from the negative effects of unlimited communication than the freedom of the press. Although obtaining correct information is the basic right of every citizen, the world of humanity relies on the media for obtaining information. They can also mislead them by providing false news. Confirming this fear, recently the world’s most powerful newspaper, the former chief of staff of the New York Times, John Sonton, spoke about freedom of the press at the New York Press Club. In response to the questions asked, John Saunton said, “There is no such thing as a free press in the United States in the history of the world, you know it and I know it, none of you.” Not someone who can write an honest opinion, if you do you already know it will never be published, I get paid every week to keep my honest opinion out of that newspaper. , to which I am attached,
Power in one form or another:
Undoubtedly, as long as the forces of writing and speaking stood against the state only on academic and moral grounds, the freedom of writing and commenting would certainly have a meaning, but since the corporate media has become a tool of political dynamics and power in one form or another. When it became part of the freedom of the press, the meaning of freedom of the press changed. In the era of Voltaire before the French Revolution, writers played an important role in bringing religious and political freedoms to European societies by effectively resisting the religious prejudices of the church and the state tyranny through their pen. That is why Napoleon said that if the Bourbon family had controlled the writing instruments, its rule would have lasted for the next hundred years. But after the development of information technology, when the vast empires of corporate media came into existence, one end of them started to control all channels of expression by being connected to the government and the other to the hearts and minds of the people, now the media itself unconsciously. But he wants his invisible control over the ability of citizens to think and speak. Is our media asking for the unlimited right to say everything without any legal accountability or moral closure in their words and actions and without caring about the consequences of the news? Besides, it will prove fatal for the survival of the media itself.
Behind the scenes:
You know this and I too, then how foolish is it for us to shed light on the independent press, we are the tools and pawns of the rich behind the scenes, we are puppets, they move the strings and we dance, our talent. Our possibilities and our lives are the property of some other people, we are mental intellectual prostitutes.” They are not even found within existence, we can determine the minimum and maximum freedom, nor do we have the full capacity to use freedom.
American intellectual Malcolm X said:
Therefore, the invention of public newspapers, instead of elevating the lower minds, brought down the high natured people, as a result of which the average people overshadowed politics, religion, literature and even science. In fact, ordinary people try to prove and our authentic journalists spend their lives proving unimportant things important, this mental degeneration has destroyed the wholeness in life and the ability of society to draw distinctions between good and evil. The famous American intellectual Malcolm X said that if you are not smart, the media will teach you to hate the oppressed and love the oppressor.
Fake news and misinformation:
Deepfakes “Fake news and misinformation are a major challenge for the entire world. Today, anyone can use digital media to deliberately spread misinformation. So we all have to be prepared to deal with possible misuse of new technology. Today the entire country and society is struggling with issues like fake news, misinformation, misinformation and deepfakes. As a journalist you have to ensure that citizens get accurate information and news۔ Today the growing trend of media towards sensational news to get high TRPs has become a major challenge. This trend is gradually proving fatal to the values of journalism. So you all should stay away from such shortcuts and save the values of journalism. Media is the only medium through which people are getting information about the whole world today۔ The biggest challenge on social media is fake news, journalists should adopt a verification process on social media and the whole world should develop a code of conduct related to social media.
Congratulations to all the journalists:
Whatever I write in this column is so little, I hope you will have understood with a few selected words. Journalists sacrificed their lives but never compromised on journalistic principles, which the entire journalistic community is proud of. Journalists should not be disappointed but continue their work in a better way and diligently. If journalists continue their work with good intentions, then there is no reason why this department cannot regain its position. A good journalist is a good person who helps to stop the evils in the society.Finally, I want to thank all the journalists in the world for doing their work in the world and informing about the dirtiness and good and bad of the society. Congratulations to all the journalists on today’s Press Freedom Day.
