Freedom of Expression

Radio Broadcasting

Basic Principles

Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression adopted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2000.

"Other forms of Censorship", Speech by Eduardo Bertoni
Executive Director of the Due Process Law Foundation and Director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information at the Faculty of Law of the University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Special Meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS on the Right to Freedom of Thought and Expression and the Importance of the Media.
Date: April 23, 2009

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Joint Declarations

Publications

Freedom of Expression Standards for Free and Inclusive Broadcasting (2009)Freedom of Expression Standards for Free and Inclusive Broadcasting (2009) pdf format
This publication shows the guidelines that have been developed by the Inter-American Court and the Inter-American Commission and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, regarding the need for an adequate regulation of the radioelectric spectrum to ensure free, independent, vigorous, plural, and diverse broadcasting, to insure, as a result, the greatest circulation of information and opinions.

13. The exercise of power and the use of public funds by the state, the granting of customs duty privileges, the arbitrary and discriminatory placement of official advertising and government loans; the concession of radio and television broadcast frequencies, among others, with the intent to put pressure on and punish or reward and provide privileges to social communicators and communications media because of the opinions they express threaten freedom of expression, and must be explicitly prohibited by law. The means of communication have the right to carry out their role in an independent manner. Direct or indirect pressures exerted upon journalists or other social communicators to stifle the dissemination of information are incompatible with freedom of expression.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur issues joint declarations with the other rapporteurships for freedom of expression, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the Representative on Freedom of the Media from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Rapporteur for the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.