ABSTRACT
The period following World War II witnessed the consolidation of the economic and cultural power of the United States. In this exhilarating era, the United States joined in promoting ambitious and noble-sounding efforts to guarantee universal human rights, without having to consider too carefully the consequences of taking these high-flown sentiments literally. Focused as they were on the importance of contrasting democracy with communism, the US authorities readily joined in the 1946 UN Declaration on Freedom of Information, which stated that:
all states should proclaim policies under which the free flow of information within countries and across frontiers, will be protected. The right to seek and transmit information should be insured to enable the public to ascertain facts and appraise events
(UN General Assembly Resolution 59 (1))
This was further strengthened by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the General Assembly the same year, which includes the following: ‘Everyone has a right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions … and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’ (Article 19).
