Question: What is freedom of press to you?

In recent days I have been listening to my family talk about freedom of press and their opinions about what it should be. I am not saying that I know any better, but being involved in the media for some years, I can't help thinking about the answer.

If there is one philosophy that I keep to is "what you write, when it is published, it is no longer yours to keep". It works well for me because you get so much criticism (and praises as well) when you publish something. It helps to keep you sane basically, otherwise you will want to strangle those who chastise your work - or kiss those who say godly things about your writings. Brings me back to the saying "do not compare yourself or else you will feel bitter or vain". Erm, something like that. But I am sure you get what I mean.

So what has all this got to do with freedom of press? Nothing much these days. Because you hardly ever can print whatever you want anyway. So you don't really have the chance to feel bitter or vain -- no one will give you the chance to print your story straight up. Of course I feel that there are certain things that we should not meddle with -- race, religion, creed and politics. I don't particularly care much about politics but race, religion and creed, for me, is not worth meddling with. When I say meddle, I mean in a discriminative context. Did I forget to mention that I don't care much about politics?

I guess it depends on what we are fighting for. If I am government then I would not want my country to be divided. I want everyone to live in harmony. There is already too much fighting and hatred in the world. Then again, I want to be fair. If the people think that my administration does not benefit them, then they deserve the right to choose or vote. I would also let people have their say (preferably comments and not baseless accusations). I guess I dare to say this because I know right now, I don't fancy politics so chances of me getting into poli-tics is slim.

You must be thinking "he's going into politics already". Haha. Not at all. I am just trying to imagine what I would do if I was in politics. Because politics and the government of that day decides on what gets published or broadcast. And we have seen the repercussions of the press going on a spree. People lose their jobs. Papers get shut down. You can end up in jail for "inciting bla bla bla...".

Freedom of press should be allowed but it should be fair, justified, sensitive.