No Free Press, No Freedom Declaration of principle
Given the crisis facing the news industry, which is undermining the foundations of journalism, threatening pluralism of information, and jeopardizing citizens’ right to quality information of public interest, the No Free Press, No Freedom campaign aims to lay the groundwork for a broad mobilization to safeguard public interest journalism and news media.
We all share responsibility for this drift threatening one of the main pillars of democracy: public authorities, with their desire to control information and their complacency toward an increasingly unbalanced market; online multinationals driven by profit who abandon the public interest they claim to have at heart and news-media owners whose commercial interests increasingly undermine the integrity of information and jeopardize journalism; the media community, with its long-held assumption that the public’s trust is acquired and its lack of unity in the face of pressures; and the public, with its lack of awareness of the incremental surrender of online and offline privacy rights and its power of informed participation in public life.
This is why we at the No Free Press, No Freedom campaign take a stand for:
1) Protecting journalistic sources from police surveillance and strengthening freedom of the press against censorship and repression in any form;
2) Promoting the public’s right to know through reinforced access to information mechanisms for both journalists and the public;
3) Debating regulatory and tax frameworks designed to ensure the quality, independence and integrity of information produced and disseminated by traditional news media and new media companies;
4) Developing media education programs fostering a critical understanding of news production and dissemination processes.
Because freedom of the press protects our fundamental freedoms in a democratic, pluralistic society concerned with the common good, we all share the responsibility and duty to act now to safeguard a free and diversified press that can produce quality information of public interest.
Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec
Centre for Free Expression – Ryerson University
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Canadian Media Guild
CWA Canada – The Media Union
Fédération nationale des communications
Ligue des droits et libertés
National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada
PEN Canada
