Freedom of the press or protect personal integrity?
“In accordance with the principles (…), and to secure the free exchange of opinion and availability of comprehensive information, every Swedish citizen shall be free, subject to the rules contained in this Act for the protection of private rights and public safety, to express his thoughts and opinions in print, to publish official documents and to communicate information and intelligence on any subject whatsoever.”1
The freedom of the press and the freedom of speech are two of the most important laws in Sweden to keep the modern society democratic. Especially today when all you write can be publicized within minutes by using the Internet to publish your text. The freedom of the press together with Internet creates the most powerful democratic tool there has ever been. Our ancestors have fought for this for generations and generations of slaves, farmers and other suppressed people in society.
With freedom of the press you are allowed to write down whatever opinion you have about a matter and Internet completes this law with speed. Your debating article about a politician matter can be reached by millions of people only seconds after you’ve published your text on a blog or something similar. It is easy, it is fast and most of all it is freedom.
Then, should this amazing tool of freedom be considered due to the problems it can cause by not protecting the personal integrity? Personally I believe that it is up to every person by themselves to consider their own personal moral and ethical standards when they are writing a text. If they feel that they have to put someone out there, they sure do have to have a good reason for this.
I would like to use Dawit Isaak as an example. As a Swedish citizen working and living in Eritrea, should he really have taking the regimes personal integrity in consideration when writing for freedom? What if he wrote about a country (which he couldn’t tell the name of) who was heading from democracy towards a dictatorship by someone he can’t mention the name of? Would he’s article really have made a difference?
Of course, the regime is already public persons, however, no matter who you are you have a personal life which no one but yourself really has anything to do with. Or do they? Well, if you’re the ruler of a country and planning to make a democratic society in to a dictatorship, then your personal business is a matter of everyone living in that country and in that society. In this case, your personal integrity means nothing.
Therefore I believe that freedom of press is more important than the protection of someone’s privacy. As has been said before, though, it is up to the writer to choose whether to respect the person’s integrity or not. Most of us are being raised with some sense of ethics and moral in our body and hearts – this is what you need to use when considering what is right or wrong - should I protect this person or not? The answer lies within you.
- Rebecca Tyrstrup, MP07
“In accordance with the principles (…), and to secure the free exchange of opinion and availability of comprehensive information, every Swedish citizen shall be free, subject to the rules contained in this Act for the protection of private rights and public safety, to express his thoughts and opinions in print, to publish official documents and to communicate information and intelligence on any subject whatsoever.”1
The freedom of the press and the freedom of speech are two of the most important laws in Sweden to keep the modern society democratic. Especially today when all you write can be publicized within minutes by using the Internet to publish your text. The freedom of the press together with Internet creates the most powerful democratic tool there has ever been. Our ancestors have fought for this for generations and generations of slaves, farmers and other suppressed people in society.
With freedom of the press you are allowed to write down whatever opinion you have about a matter and Internet completes this law with speed. Your debating article about a politician matter can be reached by millions of people only seconds after you’ve published your text on a blog or something similar. It is easy, it is fast and most of all it is freedom.
Then, should this amazing tool of freedom be considered due to the problems it can cause by not protecting the personal integrity? Personally I believe that it is up to every person by themselves to consider their own personal moral and ethical standards when they are writing a text. If they feel that they have to put someone out there, they sure do have to have a good reason for this.
I would like to use Dawit Isaak as an example. As a Swedish citizen working and living in Eritrea, should he really have taking the regimes personal integrity in consideration when writing for freedom? What if he wrote about a country (which he couldn’t tell the name of) who was heading from democracy towards a dictatorship by someone he can’t mention the name of? Would he’s article really have made a difference?
Of course, the regime is already public persons, however, no matter who you are you have a personal life which no one but yourself really has anything to do with. Or do they? Well, if you’re the ruler of a country and planning to make a democratic society in to a dictatorship, then your personal business is a matter of everyone living in that country and in that society. In this case, your personal integrity means nothing.
Therefore I believe that freedom of press is more important than the protection of someone’s privacy. As has been said before, though, it is up to the writer to choose whether to respect the person’s integrity or not. Most of us are being raised with some sense of ethics and moral in our body and hearts – this is what you need to use when considering what is right or wrong - should I protect this person or not? The answer lies within you.
- Rebecca Tyrstrup, MP07
1. http://www.riksdagen.se/templates/R_PageExtended____6314.aspx
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