Freedom of the Press: In theory and in practice

BY KATE HOVING

T“he working assumption that we're going to be discussing and exploring today is that press freedoms are crucial or foundational to democracy, and that democracy is foundational to human rights. So it doesn't get more important than this.”

Nancy Combs, then-director the Human Security Law Center at William & Mary Law School, made the stakes clear as she opened the symposium the National Security Law Center and the Reves Center for International Studies, in collaboration with the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism Center at WHRO, presented last November.

The symposium, “Press Freedom Under Attack: 21st Century Threats to Journalists and Democracy,” was comprised of three panels, bringing together a documentary filmmaker, working journalists and media experts to discuss their work and the challenges they face, both shared and unique.

“The speakers bring extraordinary breadth and depth to the question of press freedom. We're about to engage in meaningful ways with a keynote speaker who has given voice to opposition leaders and with renowned panelists who have worked in the U.S, Haiti, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia. We will hear about and discuss the challenge to press freedom, and we'll learn more about the ways in which these challenges share certain characteristics,”

Teresa Longo, executive director of the Reves Center, explained in her introduction. “The very presence of so many talented journalists and scholars who are here today, indicates that although the challenges to press freedom and democracy are serious and strong, so too are the courageous responses to those challenges.”

Rachel Sleiman J.D. ‘23 at William & Mary Law School, one of the symposium organizers, introduced the keynote address by Tikhon Dzyadko. His message was blunt.

“If we are speaking about the situation with the press, freedom, and Russia, the simple answer to the question —‘How free is the press in Russia?’—the answer is very simple. There is no press freedom in Russia,” he began. “The more interesting answer will take more time.”

And so Dzyadko put the recent events in some historical context.