International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The annaliste historian Fernand Braudel asserts that dealing with the concept of liberty, “in all its connotations including ‘taking liberties,’” is the distinguishing mark of western civilization, the socio-political problem that most persistently occurs from the fifth century to the present. The liberty to communicate, to impart and receive information of all kinds, is at the heart of the western idea of liberty. “This process has never been peaceful; yet it is one of the secrets that explains Europe's progress” ( Braudel 1993 ). The struggle for the practice of free “mass” communication begins with the emergence of newspapers in the seventeenth century, but the press freedoms gained over the next 300 years have been limited to print (→  Newspaper, History of ; Freedom of the Press, Concept of ). Even in the west a media-blind right of free expression has never been established, and newer media from film through broadcasting and beyond have been subject to the imposition, or the attempted imposition, of specific controls. Freedom of expression as a right was born in western Europe as a consequence of a desire to practice religion, within the bounds of Christianity, according to the dictates of one's own conscience. The matter was not one of private thoughts and activities being policed. Rather, it was the making public of unorthodox opinions – the publishing of them – that ... log in or subscribe to read full text