Press freedom in african society

Thesis Abstract

It seems easy to propound idealistically the principle that freedom of expression and that of the press are close to the central meaning of all liberties, it is not easy to establish universally acceptable criteria for freedom of the press. But press freedom has been still is and will continue to be of concern to all the nations of the world considering the responsibilities of the press in the society. The scio-political ideology of a nation continues to be reflective of the type of press system that operates in that society. For a nation that operates democratic system of government, the press, they will enjoy freedom, open market of ideas, liberty etc.
From the analysis presented, it is certain that press freedom exists because it was enshrined in the constitution. At the same time, it was evident that the existing press freedom was not absolute because most of the decrees applied in the military era saw their way into this present democratic dispensation. This lends credence to the reason there was no absolute press freedom and they were summed under four factors referred to as the crisis of the press. These crisis are crisis of understanding, crisis of power, crisis of ownership and crisis of resources.