ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the emergence and development of two distinct phenomena: the idea that media should be legally protected from state interference; and the conception of access to media as a human right. It addresses historical episodes during which media were mobilized in campaigns for press freedoms, human rights and humanitarian causes. The chapter aims to point readers towards major references in the scholarly debates. Lynn Hunt has focused on explaining why 'human rights' discourse retreated in the 19th century, but similar links can be found between media and the development of humanitarianism. New non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International, established in 1961, and Human Rights Watch, founded in 1978, would play an important role in publicising the human-rights violations of states around the globe. For many recent commentators, the discourse of human rights signifies a welcome retreat from the political radicalism and grandiose modernisation schemes that plagued the 20th century.
