Press Freedom: A Conceptual Analysis

This historical - research paper attempts a general exploration of press freedom as a concept. It inquires into the origin and general perception of the liberty of the press at evolution and into its different contemporary notions in the three broad socio-political systems of the world. It finds out that since press freedom originated under libertarianism in post-1688 England, various attempts have been made to conceive and implement, in the ‘interest’ of society, what the authors of the efforts perceived as the ‘ideal’ or ‘true’ variants of the concept. The paper concludes that since the structure of the press, including its freedom, is always determined by the socio-political structure, an ideal press freedom that will be equally enjoyable by or beneficial to all members of the society, irrespective of socio-political class, will always be difficult, if not impossible, to perfectly, effectively conceive, much more implement.