The concept of media freedom today: new media, new editors and the traditional approach of the law

Abstract

The concept of media freedom, in modern European philosophical and legal thinking, is constantly changing. Back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it did not necessarily mean more than the exclusion of state intervention prior to publication, while still allowing prosecutions to take place after publication. By the twentieth century, in the age of mass media, this narrow definition was no longer sustainable, with various jurisdictions recognising that media freedom should reflect the fundamental task of the media in the democratic public sphere. Now that new participants have become active players in transmitting various kinds of content to the general public, it is necessary to examine whether it is justified to rethink the notion of media freedom. In this paper the author examines the differences between freedom of speech and media freedom (or, as it is used interchangeably, freedom of the press) in order to identify the content of the currently used notion of ‘media freedom'. The paper then provides an overview of the different elements of the legal notion of ‘media’, as well as a suggestion regarding who might be the holders of the right to media freedom, which new players might claim protection under this right and what unique tasks they play in the operation of the democratic public sphere.