Freedom of Press - Term Paper Example

Indeed, the political rights, which encompass the right to participate freely in the political process, depend on how freely communication and expression through the electronic and printed media is guaranteed. Freedom of the press also makes political leaders and public office holders to be responsible and accountable to the citizens. Furthermore, the civil liberties that allow for freedom of expression and belief, associational and organizational rights, rule of law, and personal autonomy without government control are intrinsically linked to the degree of freedom of the press.

Thus, the political stability of any state is strongly dependent on freedom of the press and as a result, freedom of the press is a politically relevant issue. The political rights, which include the right to vote and be voted for, depends on the degree of freedom of the press. The right to vote and be voted for is the distinguishing factor between democratic governments and their undemocratic counterparts. Democracy involves free, fair and regular contestation for political offices and freedom of the press is an implicit requirement for free and fair elections (Sachs, 2007, 2).

For an election to be free and fair, the electorate must communicate and express themselves freely without fear, favor, threats or domination from government and other parties of potential domination. Indeed, freedom of the press ensures free communication and expression that eventually leads to free and fair elections. It is noted that governments that suppress the media are notorious for conducting flaw elections. This was the case with the Iranian government. In fact, the Iranian government aggressively crackdown on the media in the wake of its flaw presidential elections.

Furthermore, authoritarian states such as Russia and China notorious for their molestation of journalists in the bid to restricting the flow of information and thereby maintaining the political structure are also excellent examples of states that conduct flaw elections (Karlekar, 2010, 1). In addition to promoting political rights, freedom of the press ensures that the elected government officials and other public office holders are responsible and accountable to the citizens. This is particularly true in states that have freedom of information legislation, an extension of the freedom of the press.

Under this legislation, request can be made of government to make public, information otherwise classified as sensitive or secret. This promotes openness and responsibility on the part of government officials since they will be requested to provide information on how the government is run. Over 85 countries have implemented some form of the freedom of legislation. There is a good-to-excellent correlation between corrupt governments and countries that do not have this form of legislation. For instance, countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway that have some form of the freedom of information legislation (Staples, 2007) have been consistently rated as the world most corrupt-free states.

While African and Middle East countries that do not have forms of this legislation have consistently be rated as corrupt states. Thus,