Sophia's Magic Bag
Who would be the Voice to the People?
——Freedom of Speech and Press in the Age of Media Empire
The word "Empire" has almost gone away from our daily life. We can just recall some pieces of memory about the splendid past in our romantic imagination. The
Roman Empire, Mongol Empire, British Empire and German Empire were all born, grew, flourished and then disappeared in the long river of history without any trace.
However, nowadays a new kind of empire is arising quietly. Its "army" is the journalists throughout the world; its "commander" is the board of directors; its
"capital" is located anywhere; its "palaces and castles" are built by the foundation of new technology of information and communication. All of these are driven by a hidden set of channels for transmission of interests with power and money. In this
Empire, the protection for the press freedom has been distorted into the indulgence and abuse. Even worse, it would harm the rights belongs to citizens.
Two years ago, the scandal of "bugging door" was disclosed. The "World News" owned by Rupert Murdoch invaded into the missing girl Milly Dowler phone voice mail. What is worse, they even cancelled some leaving messages, which misled her families and the police. Differed from some former eavesdropping events aiming at the Royal Families and politicians, this time, it infringed upon the right of privacy belongs to common people. This phenomenon is not uncommon in the modern society surrounding by these media giants, like BBC, ABC, NBC etc. When the company of news press grows as huge as an Empire, it is not just a speaker and agency for citizens' speech and expression, but an independent corporate juridical person in pursuit of commercial interests. Is there any conflict of interests between the publish freedom of the news media and the speech freedom of citizens? How to treat the traditional expression freedom in this new Empire era?
Britain is the cradle of modern freedom of speech
——Freedom of Speech and Press in the Age of Media Empire
The word "Empire" has almost gone away from our daily life. We can just recall some pieces of memory about the splendid past in our romantic imagination. The
Roman Empire, Mongol Empire, British Empire and German Empire were all born, grew, flourished and then disappeared in the long river of history without any trace.
However, nowadays a new kind of empire is arising quietly. Its "army" is the journalists throughout the world; its "commander" is the board of directors; its
"capital" is located anywhere; its "palaces and castles" are built by the foundation of new technology of information and communication. All of these are driven by a hidden set of channels for transmission of interests with power and money. In this
Empire, the protection for the press freedom has been distorted into the indulgence and abuse. Even worse, it would harm the rights belongs to citizens.
Two years ago, the scandal of "bugging door" was disclosed. The "World News" owned by Rupert Murdoch invaded into the missing girl Milly Dowler phone voice mail. What is worse, they even cancelled some leaving messages, which misled her families and the police. Differed from some former eavesdropping events aiming at the Royal Families and politicians, this time, it infringed upon the right of privacy belongs to common people. This phenomenon is not uncommon in the modern society surrounding by these media giants, like BBC, ABC, NBC etc. When the company of news press grows as huge as an Empire, it is not just a speaker and agency for citizens' speech and expression, but an independent corporate juridical person in pursuit of commercial interests. Is there any conflict of interests between the publish freedom of the news media and the speech freedom of citizens? How to treat the traditional expression freedom in this new Empire era?
Britain is the cradle of modern freedom of speech