In the modern Internet Era, information is free, quick and explosive. However, right now, journalism is suffering: cameras smashed; newspapers restricted; publishers closed; journalists punished, threaten, and even killed under order of the government. According to Mapping Digital Media Project's (2014) investigations, this is happening in over 56 countries in the world, such as China, Nicaragua or Bulgaria. This situation is undoubtedly terrifying. In a democratic society, independent journalism should be granted since it not only implies guaranteeing the human´s basic right of freedom of speech, but is also beneficial to people and can function as a reliable intermediate between the government and its citizens.
Independent journalism implies a human right which must be granted in every democratic society. As stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), every human being has the basic right of expressing their opinions and ideas freely through any media and without interference. Media is the tool for society to exercise freedom of speech. In the same way, journalists –– whose natural errand is to investigate and inform people about the facts –– have the right to tell the truth as they see it. On the contrary, one example is China, whose censorship program is considered the most sophisticated in the world. All news in China is filtered by the government before being published. Any author whose information is found to be inappropiate will be strongly punished. Also, the citizens of China should be very careful about what they say, even when talking with friends. There is neither independent journalism nor freedom of speech in China. Clearly, China´s laws are violating basic human rights. .
Besides being considered a fundamental right, independent journalism gives citizens two benefits: it allows them to know the truth from different dimensions and prepares them to be more open-minded.
