ABSTRACT
Press freedom is arguably a sound measure of democracy. If then the United States is the world’s trailblazer in modern democratic governance, why does it rank so low in measures of press freedom? If India is the world’s largest democracy, why was it declared “the Internet shutdown capital of the world”? And if Nigeria has Africa’s most vibrant press system, as it claims, why did its security agents swoop into a courtroom to seize an online news publisher and activist? The answers to these and related questions point to the fluid application of democratic ethos at various times and places. Even in the long-established democracies, democracy remains a work in progress.
