The Disputed Freedoms of a Disrupted Press explores the origins, connections, and contradictions evident amongst divergent understandings of press freedom around the world.
Drawing on examples from various countries and cultures, this book distinguishes the universal right of free expression from the more complex and innately conditional liberties claimed by news media. It examines journalists’ common goals and norms in light of polarized and disordered information channels, reckonings with identity and privilege, diminished public trust, and altered revenue streams. The author discusses emerging forms of accurate, contextualized news production and argues that journalistic autonomy can be sustained only through demonstrated accountability for providing factual information about public affairs according to self-regulated professional standards. The book concludes by proposing a principle-based framework for enhancing the case for press protections and opposing disinformation while minimizing harm. Adopting this approach would require many publishers and editors to consider paradigm shifts and structural changes.
This is a timely contribution to the body of literature on press freedom and will be a valued resource for advanced students and researchers seeking a contemporary understanding of journalistic practice and the evolving foundations of media law.
Preface
Chapter 1. The Cost of Liberty
Speech, Disrupted
The Human Rights Revolution
When Words Hurt: The Harm Principle
But, the "Press"?
Chapter 2. Toward a Free Press
The Prisoner's Book
Birth of a Liberty
From Debut to Disruption (A View from South Africa)
Particular Roles, Particular Rights
Chapter 3. The End of The Press That Was
"Good Faith:" The Policing of a Journalist’s Mind
Rights Reserved, with Conditions Attached
Privileging a Qualified Press (A View from Canada)
Information Disorder and The New "News"
Chapter 4. Shifting Truths, Altered Missions
This, Too, Is News: Journalism’s Evolving Shapes
Is That a Fact? Now, It All Depends
Taking Sides with Truth (A View from Argentina)
The Duties That Freedom Demands
Chapter 5. A Profession Whose Time Has Come
Where Local News Blooms
From Boundary Work to Professional Standards
Embracing Accountability (A View from Norway)
Facing The Crisis of Trust
Chapter 6. The Precarious Future of a Disrupted Press
The Day They Switched Off Journalism
News Under the Guns (A View from Kashmir)
Renewing the Freedom of a Precarious Press
What’s Worth Fighting For
References
Index
Biography
Ivor Shapiro is Scholar in Residence at the Centre for Free Expression, Toronto Metropolitan University. He is a former chair of that university’s School of Journalism, where he taught narrative reporting as well as media ethics and law until 2020. Shapiro’s scholarship on journalists’ professional identity and practice has been published in leading international journals and collections and he is an editorial board member of Journalism Studies. Previous roles have included chair of the ethics advisory committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists, principal investigator of the Canadian Worlds of Journalism Study, founding editor of J-Source.ca, managing editor of Chatelaine magazine, and contributing editor of Saturday Night.
