Freedom of the press – its significance for us and the entire world

The press in Germany has been legally free for 70 years. But what exactly does that mean? Are journalists allowed to write and report whatever they want? And how does the press itself view this? Unfortunately, press freedom as we know it does not exist throughout the world. In some countries, journalists are intimidated, persecuted and even killed when they report critically. The global trend is rising.
The term "press freedom" as such is a relative term. Depending on the definition, it is viewed differently. The human rights organisation Reporters Without Borders, or ROG for short, is of the conviction that press freedom is never entirely given or not given at all, and there are merely gradations. In an interview with Torsten Schleicher from the Main-Post, he explained that it depends heavily on the definition of what one understands by press freedom. He described press freedom as press independent from the state, which neither receives directives nor is controlled. Therefore, in his opinion, press freedom exists in Germany.

Press freedom is a topic that is directly linked to a democratic form of government. This becomes clear from the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. Torsten Schleicher, editor-in-chief of the Würzburg local section of the Main-Post, shares this conviction. In an authoritarian regime, there is automatically no press freedom or only severely restricted press freedom. In our democracy, it is systemically relevant and serves the common good. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas emphasised on 3 May 2019, World Press Freedom Day: a "free, independent and diverse media landscape [is] a prerequisite for every functioning democracy. […] It creat[es] a space for communication and participation – essential in every democratic society." Nevertheless, he also emphasises that we have "no reason to sit back."
Meanwhile, press freedom has existed in Germany since 1949. From a historical perspective, it has been a long and rocky road so far. The beginnings of the debate on press freedom can be traced back to England in the 18th century, in the Age of Enlightenment. In Germany, however, the struggle for press freedom only began from the 19th/20th century onwards. With the fundamental right to freedom of opinion in the Weimar Constitution, this was far from being granted in reality. In the Nazi era, the level of press freedom had reached an extreme low. But even after the Second World War in 1945, the media could not simply report freely. The occupying powers licensed and monitored press work throughout Germany. Since 1949, press freedom has been formally enshrined in Germany's constitution. However, it was far from being comprehensively realised at that time. In both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, press freedom was only partially granted through surveillance, barriers and restrictions. There was hardly any diversity of opinion. For example, there was usually only one newspaper per region. It was not until after 1962 that the benefit of press freedom was recognised nationwide through the so-called Spiegel Affair. Despite positive developments in the years that followed, press freedom in Germany today is still not taken for granted.
Today, Article 5 of the Basic Law states the following: "Everyone has the right to express and disseminate his opinion in word, writing and image freely […]. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting […] are guaranteed. Censorship does not take place." In the second paragraph, however, this freedom is restricted again: "These rights find their limits in the provisions of general laws, the legal provisions for the protection of youth and in the right to personal honour."

The Federal Foreign Office writes on this: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights also protect freedom of opinion and information at the international level." 

Press freedom thus means legally that both the gathering of information and its production and dissemination are protected. This is closely linked to freedom of opinion. There is no censorship, which means that the state does not prohibit critical reporting or similar. The media are independent.
The task of journalists can be summarised as conveying as much correct and important information as possible to as many people as possible. Criticism and transparency are important in this context. In doing so, journalists bear great responsibility for the general level of information and thus the common good of a country and the world. The situation worldwide regarding press freedom is unfortunately not as good in all countries as it is in most European countries. Reporters Without Borders have therefore made it their task to assess press freedom and thus journalism worldwide and, if necessary, to defend it. 

Why is press freedom important? Information through the press is similar to education. In order to change something, the first step is knowledge. Knowledge about what is going wrong, what needs to be changed, where one can start. Furthermore, press freedom ensures public scrutiny. This means that people can form their own picture of the situation, think for themselves, judge and act. Closely linked to this is freedom of opinion. Not only on the part of the press, but consequently on the part of all humanity. This human right is directly linked to press freedom worldwide. It is simply the case that one can only form a genuine opinion if one knows different perspectives, opinions and viewpoints and selects the best one for oneself from them. To put it in one word, it is about diversity of opinion. By nature, there is no "one correct" opinion that is shared by all media and must be shared. Various perspectives should be allowed to have their say.  

This point of declining "diversity of opinion" in relation to press freedom is criticised most by Reporters Without Borders in Germany, alongside the hostility and threats against journalists. The second point, the increasing violence against media professionals, is equally responsible for Germany's objectively assessed press freedom status. Later, violence against journalists will be discussed in more detail. 

The current ranking by Reporters Without Borders places Germany in 13th place out of 180 countries assessed worldwide. This means Germany is no longer part of the "good press freedom" category, but merely "satisfactory". Norway is in 1st place on the list published in April 2021, closely followed by other Scandinavian countries. The last places are occupied by countries where, according to surveys and assessments by Reporters Without Borders, the state of press freedom is described as "very serious". Eritrea holds the last place, followed by (179) North Korea, (178) Turkmenistan and (177) China. Here, press freedom is often severely restricted, there is interference, or critical reports are not permitted at all. 

But press freedom is not granted in all European countries either.
This is particularly evident in Belarus. It ranks 158th and is thus the worst-rated country in Europe. Among other things, the abuse of the pandemic situation to increasingly restrict journalistic reporting is criticised. Restrictions on press freedom also occur in democracies such as Hungary. Hungary, ranked 92nd, was also cited as an example by Torsten Schleicher in the interview. It is a democracy and yet press freedom is not fully granted there. Influence is exerted covertly through the granting of licences. In Schleicher's words, critical press is not banned there, but life is made difficult for it. The situation in Germany can be explained primarily by the increasing violence against journalists. In 2020, at least 65 attacks against journalists were recorded. In 2019 there were only 14 and in 2018, 26. This year, 24 attacks on journalists have already been registered in the first three months of the year. 

Some people define freedom as something boundless. But is this the freedom one hopes for in the world and press?  
In Germany, press freedom is restricted by various aspects. Above all in favour of personality rights. This creates a conflict between two fundamental rights: press freedom and personality rights. These must repeatedly be weighed up and discussed. In the second paragraph of Article 5 of the Basic Law, press freedom is restricted to protect a higher-ranking legal interest. It is thus bound to the free democratic basic order. 

In order not to seriously and unfairly harm anyone, there are certain laws to observe.
With regard to the Main-Post, there are also journalistic guidelines. These relate to ethical conduct, personality rights such as privacy, youth protection and the right to personal honour. There are also areas about which reporting is not permitted for reasons of state secrecy. Furthermore, Schleicher has described that they work independently. It frequently happens in Germany that people try to steer or restrict press freedom in their favour. This means that journalists, such as those at the Main-Post, are attempted to be bribed or manipulated with personal gifts. This can be done by politicians, by companies, but also by individuals. Often these are not obvious and conspicuous acts, such as violence or threats. Almost every journalist probably experiences this on a small scale. For example, as Schleicher says, if one is asked as a journalist not to write something specific or to write it differently. The difficult task for journalists is to not allow themselves to be influenced and not to be steered or pushed in one direction. Against this, one must remain strong as a journalist and go one's own way. 

Schleicher has also emphasised that it is important for the Main-Post to share reliable and not vague information. The two-source principle serves this purpose, among other things, which means that the Main-Post always uses at least a second source to confirm or refute information. It is also important to critically question the source. It is also important for the Main-Post that another person proofreads. This means no one works alone. Changes can be made if something does not seem plausible or a right could be violated. However, Schleicher also reports criticism of what they have published. Claims are made such as: "You report completely one-sidedly." Statements suggesting that the press does not act freely are denied by Schleicher with reference to the Main-Post's guidelines mentioned above. He explains that they try to avoid this one-sided reporting and, if possible, to illuminate two sides of a matter. 

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that currently mistrust of the media among people is growing. Words like "lying press" may come from radical groups, but many "ordinary" citizens are also increasingly concerned about the implementation of press freedom. What should actually be clear, but particularly suffered under Donald Trump as President of the USA, was the principle of not spreading untruths and thus fake news. Unfortunately, this is not always guaranteed. Reporters Without Borders add to this topic that not reporting certain things in an effort to be politically correct is just as bad as lying. 

What Schleicher ultimately meant was that as a journalist one does not always make oneself popular and thus does not always have an easy time. 

The Foreign Office writes about attacks against journalists that such acts are not only attacks against individual people, but also undermine freedom of opinion and information in democratic societies. The ranking by Reporters Without Borders makes clear how poor the situation of press freedom is in some parts of the world. How dramatic this situation really is becomes apparent from the ROG barometer. In 2021, by mid-July, there were already 12 journalists and 4 media staff members who had been killed because of their work. Furthermore, 436 journalists, media staff members, bloggers and citizen journalists are in detention. To remind ourselves that these are not "just" cases happening far away from us, one only needs to recall the deadly attack on the editorial office of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in January 2015. 

This struggle for and in defence of press freedom is probably never-ending. Both in Germany and worldwide. There is still a need today to act, to question critically and to reflect. For this, it is important that different countries work together. Journalists and thus free reporting must be protected. Worldwide communication is necessary for this. As a reminder, 3 May each year will continue to serve as World Press Freedom Day to draw attention to abuses around the world. Change is a process that only works step by step.  

The late politician Richard von Weizsäcker once said: "Without press freedom, democracy is bankrupt."