"This is a book about free speech narratives. Stories about how imagination and rational thinking in wildly different cultures capture, imagine, and conceptualize what freedom of speech means. 1989 and 2011 are only two recent (in historic perspective) turning points when freedom of speech and freed
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om of the press emerged, or at least powerful efforts were made to support its emergence, although disheartening backlashes followed in several countries. This book also tells many other free speech narratives that emerged, or evolved outside the frames of 1989 and 2011, also with several troublesome repercussions. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the year of largely velvet revolutions (in the words of Vaclav Havel), brought freedom of speech to Central Europe and Eastern Europe. It also increased the hope that freedom of speech and democracy can prevail in more and more countries on the earth. This book examines, in some historic perspective, to what extent this hope has become reality since and prior to 1989, also in light of the Arab revolutions of 2011." (Introduction, page 1)
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"Composed of questions and answers, this guidebook is practical and easy to use. There is no ‘one-fits-all’ model that can be readily adopted anywhere. Therefore, the publication does not focus on specific countries, but rather on a wide range of practical concerns. How do the existing self-regu
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latory mechanisms work? What challenges do they face? How to establish or enhance them? Each chapter highlights particular aspects of media self-regulation, including the role of codes of ethics and various accountability mechanisms, such as ombudspersons or press councils. The readers, I hope, will find solutions that they can tailor to their countries’ conditions." (Foreword, page 7-8)
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