Where is freedom of expression today?
Although every nation subscribes to the universal Declaration of Human Rights which through article 19 maintains the right to freedom of expression it is safe to say that it is not something that has been in practice achieved globally. The difference between the political rhetoric regarding freedom of expression and the reality of the situation in most countries is stark. Even in the ‘west’ where freedom of expression is one of the central tenets of the prevalent political ideologies there appears to be a steady reduction in the freedom of expression. While social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook make expression to a wide audience much easier they have also led to the prosecutions of those deemed to be abusive or offensive.
Despite the emergence of social media, freedom of expression today still faces an age old economic divide which appears at both domestic and international level. Money can purchase greater ability to be heard. Those people who, for instance, run TV networks or own newspapers are able to express themselves in ways that that are unavailable to the rest of us. Similarly, there is currently a great disparity between those who have access to the internet and those living in poorer conditions that do not. Thus the contemporary debate regarding freedom of expression must not only consider the political question of how little or much government should censor its citizens but also question whether the disparity in freedom of expression should be allowed to continue.