Media freedom matters because it is the engine of democratic growth and renewal, and also a crucial spur to economic development. Both of these should be key priorities for the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Press Union Media Trust was founded more than a century ago. As one of the oldest press freedom organisations in the world, our purpose is a simple yet profoundly important one: to seek to preserve, enhance and extend press freedom throughout the Commonwealth. Like a lot of organisations and institutions in the media world, times have been tough for us and it is a great deal more difficult than it ever was to keep the flame burning. But what we lack in resources, we make up for with a burning passion for the cause of media freedom. Much of our work is now based on partnerships with others who share our values - the International Press Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Commonwealth Journalists Association. Between us all, we do what we can to fight for free and independent journalism, to stand up for the safety of journalists, and to champion the investigative reporting which lies at the heart of any democratic society.
 

Media freedom matters in every Commonwealth country for three reasons:

First, it is only a free press which has the power to hold Government, public authorities and other parts of the State - in other words, those who exercise power over citizens - to account it is the watchdog of the public interest, a guardian against corruption, incompetence, waste, hypocrisy and greed. lt is, to coin a phrase, the arsenal of democracy - and that’s what the Commonwealth needs.

Second, unlike any form of regulated media, the free press has the ability to conduct long term investigations, unhindered for the most part by the fear of prior restraint. Campaigning on issues 296 j The Parliamentarian I 2018: issue Four of real importance to citizens in Commonwealth countries is profoundly important.

And third, in any state where there are free and fair elections, the free press has a fundamental role in transmitting information to voters, independently of political interests, and explaining often complex policy issues in a way which is understandable to the great majority of electors. Free elections simply can’t take place without a free media.

Those three issues go to the heart of what any democracy and free society in the Commonwealth should be about. it was in fact summed up so well by one of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, when he said: “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it. ” He said that two centuries ago but the reality of his words for us in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth is timeless.

But tragically media freedom is under direct - even deadly - attack in so much of the Commonwealth, every day, every week and every month of the year. A culture of widespread impunity now flourishes in many places. in 2017, eight Commonwealth journalists were killed in the line of duty, including four in India and one - the fearless campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia, the crusading scourge of official corruption, cronyism and incompetence - right at the heart of Europe, in Malta, the victim of an assassin's car bomb. In the five years from the start of 2013 to the end of 2017, as many as fifty-seven journalists in Commonwealth countries were killed in the course of their work, according to UNESCO.

Elsewhere in the Commonwealth, harassment and intimidation is daily fodder for many journalists struggling to do their job.

Of 180 nations in the World Press Freedom index, only two Commonwealth countries, Jamaica and New Zealand, make the top ten, and including these two only thirteen countries make the top fifty - while many such as Uganda, Rwanda, The Gambia and Bangladesh languish near the bottom.

ln so many of them state regulation, criminal libel (an abhorrent legacy of Empire), sedition laws, intimidation and bullying all make public debate and freedom of expression well-nigh impossible. Even in the United Kingdom, which ever since the Leveson inquiry has shockingly been slipping down the world press freedom rankings, we continue to live in the shadow of the odious ‘Section 40’ which sits malevolently on the Statute Book, a Damocles Swords over the heads of the British press, and one which sets an appalling example to the rest of the world.

All this is completely at odds with the shining commitment in the Commonwealth Charter which offers 2.4 billion people - a third of the world‘s population - a panoramic vision of liberty with free speech and freedom of expression at its heart It is surely now time for the Commonwealth’s leadership to take action to turn the noble words about media freedom into action. l think it can do so in four different areas.

First, there must be an end to the harsh laws in so many countries which date back to the colonial era. There is, for instance, no need anywhere for criminal libel or sedition laws: no one should ever go tojail for writing something that is true. There have been some positive gains on this front in recent years in countries such as Ghana and Sri Lanka, which have repealed criminal libel, but serious problems remain. The majority of Caribbean island states maintain such laws and only recently we had the threat of criminal defamation actually being introduced in The Maldives.

Second, the press where possible needs to establish its own effective regulatory systems to make clear to their Government that there is no need for repressive state regulatory controls and that where they exist they should be dismantled. Effective and independent self regulation is one of the best antidotes to state censorship.

Third - and this is an area where l believe the Commonwealth can really help - we need to ensure resources are put into the training of journalists, particularly with the skills they need to equip them forthe digital future. A free press needs to be a commercially successful press, as well as a responsible one, and the training of journalists and editors is a vital component of that.

And finally, we need renewed commitment from all Governments to safeguarding the safety of journalists. Bullying, intimidation and harassment of those seeking to report the news should never be tolerated, and those who perpetrate these crimes should be prosecuted and punished. Justice for journalists must be seen to be done. lt is unacceptable that the killers of Daphne Caruana Galizia, whom we were privileged to honour with the CPU‘s Astor Award earlier this year, and of Lasantha Wickrematunga from Sri Lanka, murdered on his way to work in January 2009, still walk free. UNESCO statistics show that fewer than 10% of all killings of journalists in Commonwealth countries have resulted in those responsible being brought to justice. A first step to ending this unacceptably high rate of impunity should be for all Commonwealth states to pledge to open investigations into the scores of unresolved cases and report any progress to the United Nations.

It is against that background that the publication at the time of CHOGM 2018 in the spring of the ‘Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good Governance’ - an initiative of the Commonwealth Journalists Association, strongly supported by the CPU and with input from the CPA - was so important. With its emphasis on effective protections for the independence of the media and its role in informing the public, it provides a universal Code for the Commonwealth which will protect both freedom of expression and the activities of journalists.

What is vital now is that this initiative of the CJA and the other Commonwealth organisations involved is followed up by concrete action - in other words that it is adopted by the Commonwealth in the manner of the Latimer House Principles. It needs to become a road map to improving governance and media freedom right across the world. We also need to measure success against it and hold people to account for delivering it.

Media freedom matters because it is the engine of democratic growth and renewal, and also a crucial spur to economic development Both of these should be key priorities for the Commonwealth. By the time we get to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda - a country which has had its fair share of media freedom challenges - we need to have seen concrete progress. The CPU - working in tandem with other Commonwealth organisations - will do all we can to ensure that the spotlight is kept on this vital issue, and that the noble words in the Commonwealth Charter become not just rhetoric, but reality for millions of citizens.

Written By: Lord Black of Brentwood:
has been a Member of the UK Parliaments House of Lords since 2010. He is the Chairman of the CommonWealth Press Union Media Trust amongst a wide range of positions in public life. He was the Director of the UK Press Complaints Commission (1996~2003) before Joining the Telegraph Media Group in 2005.