“A PRESS for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis.”
That is the theme for World Press Freedom Day 2024 on May 3 to highlight the critical role of journalists and a free press in informing the public about the environmental challenges we face and holding authorities accountable for taking action.
UNESCO says the day “acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics.
Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.
Truth is the foundation of press freedom
EVEN AS the Central Luzon Media Association-Pampanga Chapter joins the celebration of World Press Freedom Day 2024 and fully adheres to its theme, its observance of the day goes to its very foundation – Truth.
Taking to heart anew the greatest defense of the freedom of the press – Areopagitica: A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England, 1644 –to wit:
“…And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the wors, in a free and open encounter…For who knows not that Truth is strong next to the Almighty; she needs no policies, nor stratagems, nor licensings to make her victorious, those are the shifts and the defences that error uses against her power: give her but room, and do not bind her when she sleeps…”
Hence, we declare:
Katututwan ing Santungan ning Timawang Pamamasiag.
Katotohanan ang Saligan ng Malayang Pamamahayag.
Truth is the Foundation of Press Freedom.