The changing nature of crime has a significant impact on criminology, leading to more intriguing research on new aspects of crime. As noted by Barlow & Kauzlarich, 2010: 18), criminology theories have established that the complexity of behaviors and criminal actions as explained in different criminological theories point to the fact that the nature of crime will continue to change.
The modern times are characterized by unique crimes including unusual cases of terrorism, larceny and cybercrime among others. Criminals have become more tactful and the advent of technology and crime-based films have further increased expertise in criminal activities. The need to address the changing nature of crime in a proactive manner is absolutely necessary and criminology must adjust to accommodate such developments.
Besides, there is need to investigate the impact of traditional forms of crime correction and punishment to establish its effectiveness in the wake of the changing nature of crime. Accordingly, criminology has been affected by the changing nature of crime and there is need to keep studying such crimes and ensure that they are amicably addressed. Criminology is tasked with the duty of studying crime and developing solutions; such that urgent research is required to address new aspects of crime.
The changing nature of crime could be a reflection that theories in criminology have been outdated and that new focus is needed in order to manage modern crime. New paradigms need to be explored in order to ensure enhanced crime management. In the case of terrorism for example, the field of criminology is tasked with determining the major motivations of crime and the possibility of preventing the attacks before they can happen.
Changing nature of crime: Terrorism
Recently, there has been a surge in the number of terrorist attacks in the form of lone shootings, an illustration that terrorism goes beyond the alleged question of religion where research has mostly been focused. The recent shootings in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead and nearly 500 injured on October 1, 2017 were perpetrated by a lone gunman whose motive of crime is yet to be identified.
Stephen Paddock as he has been identified planned the crime for a long time, purchasing guns and rounds of ammunition and booking hotel rooms that gave him a clear view of the venue (Yan & Karimi, 2017: 1). The attack raises questions on how such a crime could be executed under the tight security measures that the United States has taken against terrorism.
Paddock did not only purchase numerous guns and explosives but also managed to transport them in his car and into the hotel room without being flagged by security. It is possible if he managed to escape the scene as originally intended, he may have committed another crime such as a bombing, given the police found explosives in his car.
Paddock was mostly a private person and since no accomplice has been identified so far, finding the motive may require an investigation into his psychological health. Barlow & Kauzlarich (2010: 15) note that psychological causes have been linked to crime but its relation to terrorist attacks is still a new subject of study.
The changing nature of crime as far as terrorism is concerned needs to explore more theories than are currently being studied. This insinuates that criminology would have to change the direction of study towards investigating the impact of psychological issues and other factors as a trigger of terrorism (Corner, Gill & Mason, 2016; 561).
References
Barlow, H. D. & Kauzlarich, D. (2010). Explaining Crime: A Primer in Criminological Theory.
Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Corner, E., Gill, P. & Mason, O. (2015). Mental Health Disorders and the Terrorist: A Research
Note Probing Selection Effects and Disorder Prevalence. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 39(6), 560-568.
Yan, H. & Karimi, F. (2017). Las Vegas killer had more explosives, 1,600 rounds of ammo in
Blame: The clause 231 of the Treaty of Versailles blamed German for instigating he war and causing immense loss and damages.
Repartations: Germans were forced to admit full responsibility for starting World War 1. In addition, they were to pay all the material damages amounting to £ 6,600 million until 1984
Army: The army was restricted to a total of 100, 000 personnel. The presence of any army was removed from the territory of Rhineland that Germany had. Additionally, the army in Germany was left with 6 battleships, no aeroplanes and submarines.
Territory: Germany lost 12% of their population as they were given independence and sovereignty with the setting of the boundaries. In addition, they lost their colonies in overseas territories. Moreover, their lost 10% of productive land that had coalfields, iron and steel industry.
Areas of strength/weakness in the original treaty
The treaty provided an opportunity for the creation of an international organization to maintain peace in Europe called the League of Nations. Secondly, the treaty provided the nations with sovereignty by instituting boundaries. Thirdly, the treaty resulted in de-militarization of Germany which ensured that there was peace and stability in the region. Lastly, the treaty provided Poland, Hungary and Czeschoslovakia independence and 45 countries participated in the treaty, hence enforcing its legality.
On the other hand, the weakness in the treaty is that the League of Nations was incapacitated when it came to implementing their decisions. They lacked a military section that could help them enforce their authority in the member countries. Secondly, countries like Japan and Italy were against the treaty as they felt they did not get sufficient reward as Allies. Thirdly, the exclusion of USA, Russia and Germany from the treaty weakened the League of Nations. Lastly, the treaty weakened the Germans who felt that they were unfairly treated, hence resented the treaty.
Make a prediction of how the original treaty of Versailles could lead to future conflict in Europe
The treaty of Versailles infuriated the Germans and the disadvantaged parties. The Germans were loaded with debt and the unemployment situation in the country worsened. This provided a suitable environment for regrouping and formation of an army against the European nations. This lead to world war 2.
TREATY OF JUSTICE
The aim of the treaty was to ensure peace and prevent the reoccurrence of another world war. In addition, the treaty was supposed to punish the guilty parties and decapitate them from ever rising. The treaty is being written to provide the world with a new era where the nations will be able to relate in a friendly manner to foster trade and peace.
Restrictions/Punishment
The payment of penalties amounting to £ 6,600 by the guilty parties after a period of one year of the signing of the contract and until 1990.
The reallocation of the overseas territories that the instigators controlled fairly to the Allied nations
Any nations that will form any form of alliance with respect to equipping their military will also be stripped of their overseas colonies.
The provision of independence to the countries that wanted to defect from the instigators of the war. Boundaries will be set in place and support to strengthen their identity.
Strict monitoring of their operations by setting up an international organization, League of Nations, to oversee the operations of the instigator.
Conclusion
The Treaty of Justice is focused to ensure that the peace was restored in the world and that the guilty parties were punished. The punishment is set in a manner that it will be fair to all the parties involved to reduce hostility. Moreover, the punishments are just to ensure that the instigators are able to support their economy and the innocent citizens. The violation of the treaty will result in the nations being stripped of their sovereignty. This will result in the nation being controlled and governed by the League of Nations the international organization mandate to maintain peace.
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) ,caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae a bacteria which infects the mucous membranes. The bacteria is often transmitted from one individual to another during sexual contact, including anal, oral or vaginal intercourse. However, babies can also be infected with this condition during childbirth if the mother is infected. In babies, the disease affects their eyes. Hethcote &Yorke (2014) report that some of the factors that may increase the risk of one getting the infection include age, new sex partner, history of gonorrhea infection, multiple sex partners, and co-infection with other sexually transmitted diseases.
The bacteria cannot survive outside human body for long therefore it cannot be transmitted by sharing baths and towel, cups, toilets and seats, kissing or hugging.
Once infected, one presents with urethral discharge while urinating. The infection is treatable therefore one should seek medical attention early after noticing the symptoms.
Presentation of Gonorrhea
Usually, the infection causes no symptoms. However, when they appear it affects multiple body parts, but it appears commonly in the genital tract. Men who have been diagnosed with gonorrhea pus-like discharge from the tip of the penis, painful urination, and swelling and pain in one testicle. In women, the infection causes increased vaginal discharge, dysuria, dyspanuria, pelvic or abdominal pain, and vaginal bleeding between periods such as after vaginal intercourse.
The infection can also infect other body parts such as the rectum where it causes anal itching, discharge of the pus-like substance from the rectum, strains during bowel movements, and bleeding. When it infects the eyes, it may cause light sensitivity, eye pain, and pus-like discharge from one or both eyes. Patients may also develop a sore throat or swollen lymph nodes in the neck if the infection spreads to the throat. It can also disseminate to the various joints causing septic arthritis whereby the affected joints become red, warm, swollen, and extremely painful during movements.
Treatment of Gonorrhea
Adults who have been diagnosed with gonorrhea are prescribed with antibiotics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that patients with uncomplicated gonorrhea should be given a ceftriaxone injection in combination two oral antibiotics, that is, either doxycycline or azithromycin. This is advisable because the drugs provide a wide range of activity which is required due to the emergence of strains of drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae(Kerani et al. 2015).
Babies who are infected during childbirth are given two eye drops of erythromycin to prevent the spread of the infection. To avoid reinfection with gonorrhea, the patients are advised to abstain from unprotected sex for seven days after he/she has completed the treatment regimen and the symptoms have resolved.
The infection can cause some complications if it is untreated. For instance, it can cause infertility in women by spreading to the oviduct and the uterus cause Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) which causes scarring of the fallopian tubes, increase in pregnancy complications as well as infertility. Infertility can also occur in men if the infection affects the epididymis. Most importantly, the gonorrhea infection predisposes a person to the risk of being infected with STIs such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The following steps should be taken to reduce the risk of gonorrhea infection. First, sexually active women should be encouraged to visit health centers annually for gonorrhea screening (Jackson, McNair & Coleman, 2015). Condoms should also be used if a person is having sex with a new sex partner. For those who have been diagnosed with the disease, they should encourage their partners to also go to a hospital for testing.
Prognosis
Gonorrhea has a good prognosis especially if antibiotic therapy is administered early enough. Usually, the infection clears within 2 to 4 weeks if the Neisseria gonorrhoeaeis susceptible to the antibiotics that have been administered. For individuals who have are immune-compromised such as patients with HIV, the infection may last for months and become more severe.
References
Hethcote, H. W., & Yorke, J. (2014). Gonorrhea transmission dynamics and control (Vol. 56). Springer.
Kerani, R. P., Stenger, M. R., Weinstock, H., Bernstein, K. T., Reed, M., Schumacher, C., … & Golden, M. (2015). Gonorrhea treatment practices in the STD Surveillance Network, 2010–2012. Sexually transmitted diseases, 42(1), 6-12.
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The death penalty and other issues concerning crime and punishment
This paper focuses on the general aspect of crime and punishment in different jurisdictions as they vary with religious and social beliefs, as do the treatment of persons from the point of investigations, arrest, trial and finally committal. The rights of the prisoners have long been neglected as they are considered pariahs in the society. This paper is analytical of the plight of prisoners and the sentences they face in addition to exposing the human rights issues that are to be addressed in the plights of prisoners’ rights.
Crime and punishment in the law
Crime is defined as an act that infringes on the law and therefore punishable. This broad description covers the significant aspect of what crime entails although it is worth noting that some crimes are not against people per se. These actions or omissions result in the suffering of persons. As a general duty of the state and its agencies to guard and protect its citizens, any infringement of the same attracts certain penalties to the perpetrator. Such penalties are out in the criminal laws. These punishments are meant to ensure justice for the victims (Friedman and Percival, 2017). It is also for the maintenance of law and order.
The inclusion of social mechanics of the society has had a great impact on the development of this area of practice of crime and punishment. The involvement of human rights organisations and the community as well as the introduction of acceptance in the forms of punishment.
Bibliography
Creamer, C. D., & Simmons, B. A. (2015). Ratification, reporting, and rights: Quality of participation in the Convention against Torture. Human Rights Quarterly, 37(3), 579-608. Friedman, L. M., & Percival, R. V. (2017). The roots of justice: Crime and punishment in Alameda County, California, 1870-1910. UNC Press Books.
Garland, D. (2014). Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty Today. In Die Sinnprovinz der Kriminalität (pp. 233-244). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Mathias, M. D. (2013). The sacralization of the individual: Human rights and the abolition of the death penalty. American Journal of Sociology, 118(5), 1246-1283. (Annotated bibliography)
In the outcry for the respect of the sacrosanct value of life, the author looks at the various forces that have fought for the abolition of death sentence in most jurisdictions. He focuses on the trends, cultural and political that led to the achievement of this feat. The article further dissects the various challenges that have faced this fight such as religious beliefs and the embrace of the human rights cultures. It also looks at the various aspects of communal lives of the residents in the fight for the abolition of the death sentence as being paramount.
Smith, C. E. (2016). Shaping Constitutional Law: The Example of Prisoners’ Rights. In The Supreme Court and the Development of Law (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan US.
To what extent is our understanding of organizations and management over the last 100 years applicable to the 21st century?
The understanding of organizations and management over the last 100 years applies to the 21st Century. The organization is a group of people who have a structured management system that directs them to pursue a common objective (Scott, and Davis, 2015, p. 45).
Notably, within that period of 100 years, many people attempted to provide relevant knowledge that could improve efficiency in organizations and management process.
In conclusion, the knowledge acquired concerning organizations and management over the last 100 years has a great impact on the 21st century. In the past, the team was not complex like today where the firm has many department and activities.
Organizations and management Case Anlysis
The management adapted new methods to comply with new changes in a firm. Therefore, that understanding of organizations and management has helped the teams in the current century (Bohari, Hin, and Fuad, 2017, p. 56). Managers to allocate enough resources depending on the nature of goals set. Also, the use of new technological methods can help the firm to perform and compete effectively in the market.
Total Quality management is a plan that makes the management to be focused on customers and improvement of processes. SWOT analysis should be completed to provide enough knowledge concerning internal and external factors of a firm. The understanding of organizations and management should be the base of bringing change in the firm. Management needs such understanding to develop effective strategies that may improve the performance of a team.
References
Bohari, A.M., Hin, C.W. and Fuad, N., 2017. The competitiveness of halal food industry in Malaysia: A SWOT-ICT analysis. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 9(1).
Ozguner, Z. and Ozguner, M., 2014. A managerial point of view on the relationship between of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s dual factor theory. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(7).
Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.
Sargeant, A. and Jay, E., 2014. Fundraising management: analysis, planning and practice. Routledge.
Yeh-Shen and Sootface are two Cinderella stories of different versions with themes that can be applied in any culture and at any moment of history. The two stories share similarities but also have some differences regarding characters, lesson learned and the location (Smith & Kimberly, 2012).
Yeh-Shen and Sootface Comparison
The similarities depicted between the two stories are that the biological mothers of both Yeh-Shen and Sootface died and left them as orphans. Consequently, both of them were tortured in the company of the family members with whom they were left with, though Yeh-Shen was left under the care of her stepmother whereas Sootface was left in the company of her two elder sisters who were cruel to her.
In both stories, the main characters rivaled with their opponents on getting husbands and both opponents were female. Both of them ended up marrying royal men whereby Yeh-Shen married a king and Sootface married an invisible warrior (Smith & Kimberly, 2012).
Yeh-Shen and Sootface Contrast
However, the two Cinderella stories had several differences that are as follows. Yeh-Shen’s father came from China whereas Sootface’s father came from Ojibwa. Sootface’s father was a hunter whereby Yeh-she’s father was a cave chief. Yeh-Shen’s family lived in the cave, but Sootface’s family lived in a forest. Sootface’s father was alive whereby Yeh-shen’s father died shortly after her mother had died (Smith & Kimberly, 2012).
Yeh-Shen had no sister apart from her stepsister whereas Sootface had two biological sisters. Furthermore, Yeh-Shen owned a fish from which she used to get magical powers to help her while her stepmother was mistreating her but Sootface did not have any source of magical powers. Yeh-Shen is said to be beautiful than her stepsister whereas Sootface is supposed to be ugly according to the song she was singing to herself (Smith & Kimberly, 2012).
Yeh-Shen and SootfaceConclusion
The two stories just like all other versions of Cinderella stories have a lesson that it is always prudent to be kind even while living in this cruel world. This kindness somehow pays with good results.
Museums are essential for effective communication, social life promotion and further learning about culture, politics and even sciences. Museums are normally connected to politics, and they are normally used as a tool to preserve historic political events. However, political actions taken against the policies of the museum causes more harm than good to its effectiveness. As much as the museum functionality is attached (Blee 2016).
According to Miller during the interview, museums have a great effect on the culture of different groups of people in the society (Miller 2017). In the American Muslim culture, the museum has a negative effect on the environment. Many activities are carried out in the museum, which may result in damage to the environment. The American Muslim culture has changed over time due to the changing environment.
This is also because the Muslim American is a minority group in the United States of America (Geraldine 2016). The main environmental struggle faced by the museum is the political greenwashing on how technological activities applicable in the museum are harmless to living and non-living organisms. Museums and political actions remain go hand in hand. The museum is used as an archive for the storage of materials that are not so environment-friendly, such as disposed of computers, cell phones, and wires. These are simply stored for history, probably to show the development of technology over time.
Museums and political actions: Environmental activists
This may cause environmental activists to advocate against that, which is banned will cause a massive drop in the museum industry (Smith and Font 2014). Therefore, museums should not be used to bring political divisions between people or even cause conflict and death. Instead, it should be used as a tool to show the refection of societal heritage as well as bringing all cultures, religions, and states together to share something in common. Furthermore, the museum may cause pollution to the environment through the technological materials used for artwork and scrap metals of used gadgets.
Measures should be put in place on how to prevent these health hazards that may be caused by the material in the museum and all political objections prevented from interfering with the activities. Every environmental and political activist should be banned from using the museum as a tool to achieve their agendas and strict policies against such needs to be established to retain the museum’s primary purpose for existence. Museum and political actions destroy the tranquility of museums. This also will enable the maintenance of local and international tourists who will help earn the national revenue (Limebeer, Perantoni and Rao 2014).
In the current century, the industries of media and creative industries have experienced a threat to their capitalism whereby they have responded by ensuring expansion making the management of the media and creative industries a task. The expansion is normally achieved through the invention of new inventory according to the potential needs of customers resulting in the expansion of their market. The growth in technology has been the main contributor of the innovations happening in the industries, for example, the introduction of electricity in the early twenty centuries (Huws 2014).
The industry, however, pays attention to ensuring there is no market saturation, which in turn reduces profitability . The management of the media and creative industries is crucial in it’s success. They achieve this by researching on the new life orientations where new goods and services demand is portrayed and take the advantage by offering the brand new services and goods. In the sector of labor, the invention of domestic labor machines such as refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners seemed to ease the laborers work duties but on the contrary, brought along some inconveniences (Staiger 1979).
The main consequence was low wages to the laborers. The low wage workers and interns represent the greatest percentage in the workforce whereby the licensed and trained workers are very few and are designated to small tasks around the premises (Chan, Pun, and Selden 2015).
The deployment is done in line with the kind of paid work they are designated to. The workers sell their labor, which is paid depending on the time spent during work and the performance. However, the payment is usually unfairly small due to the expenses incurred by the industries for the maintenance of the labor machines being used. In the sector of entertainment, the low wage workers are the ones in charge of filming, photographing, radio management and doing the recording (Geraldine 2016).
Their work is normally diverted to the capitalists responsible, and hence they become subject to whatever decision made concerning their duties and how they should be paid. This is made worse especially by the expanding market in response to the invention of new commodities, which commercializes the new ways of life. The interns are considered as the major labor providers after undergoing thorough inductions into the industrial activities, and their job is normally defined by their areas of interest with the promise of being employed if their internship period performance is remarkable (Dan and ShinJoung 2016).
Management of the Media and Creative Industries: Labor compensation
Their wages are usually lower than all other workers, but in contrary, they are usually the most productive regarding service delivery. The low wage laborers are normally recruited by merit after a short probation to test their abilities. Despite their hard work, they end up being the second lowly paid employees after the interns with their job descriptions almost similar to that of the interns. There are normally two kinds of capitalism, which are physical capitalism, and capitalism by the purchase of labor.
The physical capitalist has been practiced since the ancient centuries and was based mainly maximizing the use of labor depending on its availability in line with the potential production of goods and services (Nathan 2003). However, this kind of capitalism brought about massive loses because the produced good quality was difficult to predict, there was no uniformity in production services, the manufacturing process being delayed and loss of materials.
The industry is able to maintain consistency in business growth through capitalism of purchasing labor under the rates of time. This is because the workers and interns’ work faster within the restricted timing so as to avoid penalties due to delayed duties. Moreover, the restriction gives them an opportunity to have extra duties assigned to them for additional payments.
This is to ensure that there are order and accountability. Other extra duties are normally attached to ensure maximum utilization of the labor and payment is normally done according to the duration of work and performance. It is therefore ironic that these workers still experience injustice concerning the low wage acquisition. This is because the management always looks for small opportunities of making malicious profits not minding on the burden enforced on their employees.
The employment is normally centralized with different workers being directed to specific managers for reporting. Centralization enhances strictness in case of any failure of work or irregularities from the workers. In some media and creative arts, interns are not entitled to any payment until the end of the probation period. This is considered as training season, which is also mandatory (Vicki and Jocelyn 2015).
The development of technology in the media and creative industry has become poverty in disguise whereby the main people affected are the interns and low-wage workers. Technology has triggered invention of new ways of producing commodities resolution to the creation of new markets. This has resulted in the laborers shifting their duties from internal to external whereby they deal directly with the market to ensure profitability.
Their sources of income are determined by the market and increase with the increase in market and also decrease with the decrease in the market. The market expansion has been beneficial to the capitalist who tends to make a good profit out of the sales but has become a nightmare to the low wage laborers whose fate is subject to the market fluctuation (Vicki and Jocelyn 2015).
The new market has resulted in the incorporation of the consideration of other aspects of life into the media and creative industry. This is because the rate of commodity production has reached maturity and some of the aspects of life, which were initially not considered as economic, can now be commercialized. Examples of these aspects include sociality, public services, art and culture, and biology.
The capitalist has enacted more regulations concerning the fulfillment of the markets need. The lives of the customers including health and body genetic composition are also held with significance. Whereby new drugs are produced for different health management purposes and also the food sector is upgraded by the application of gene modification technology. This, therefore, demands more domestic laborers to be in charge of handling the machines under the supervision of a few highly paid employees.
The capitalists have however increased the scales along with the art and cultural labor, as well as the commodities, has been incorporated into the production relations. This has, in turn; increase the profit acquired in that field increasing the rates of the wages for the interns and low wage workers. The income for the workers in charge of filming, writing, and music composition are directly dependent on the profits made in the market on the sales made on Compact Discs, films, magazines, books, and records. The amount of profit is, in turn, dependent on the size of distribution made and this requires them to link with general distributors such as Amazon Kindle (Vicki and Jocelyn 2015).
References
Amodio LF. Informing and engaging citizens on climate change issues. Paper presented at 6th World Science Centre Congress, Cape Town, South Africa, 7–9 September 2011.
Banet-Weiser, Sarah. “What’s your flava.” Interrogating postfeminism: Gender and the politics of popular culture (2007): 201-226
Blee, K.M., 2016. Manufacturing Fear: Muslim Americans and the Politics of Terrorism.
Bobo, L. (2001). Racial attitudes and relations at the close of the twentieth century. In N. J. Smelser, W. J. Wilson, & F. Mitchell, Racial Trends and Their Consequences.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Brooks, D., & Hebert, L. P. (2006). Gender, Race and Media Representation. In B. J. Dow, & J. T. Wood, The Sage Handbook of Gender and Communication.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Carragee, K. M., & Roefs, W. (2004). The Neglect of Power in Recent Framing Research. Journal of Communication, 54(2), 214-233.
Chan, J., Pun, N. and Selden, M., 2015. Interns or workers? China’s student labor regime. Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan focus.
Dan Schiller & ShinJoung Yeo (2016), “Low-Wage Workers & the Internet Industry,” Information Observatory http://informationobservatory.info/2016/01/04/low-wageworkers-the-internet-industry/
Dines, G. (2003). King Kong and the white woman: Hustler magazine and the demonization of masculinity. In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds.), Gender, race, and class in media: A text-reader
Dines, G., & Humez, J. M. (2003). Gender, race, and class in media: A text-reader (2nded.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Chapultepec Declaration
Democracy connotes freedom. A core principle of freedom is access to information and ability to speak, write, publish mainstream and alternative views. Many of the countries to which you all trace your roots, and have subsequently visited or lived will have greater or lesser degrees of this fundamental right.
Chapultepec Declaration
Rights as we see them used in the Chapultepec Declaration are claimed as universal freedoms that are actually legally-defined and enforceable. This declaration is not what people think they deserve, nor is it what governments as some disembodied power structure ‘give’ at their discretion.
Chapultepec Declaration
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The Chapultepec Declaration: How its Authors Equate Press Freedom and Democracy
In 1994, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) held a summit at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. The convention sought to promote freedom of the press. What came out of the comprehensive discussion was the Chapultepec Declaration. In it, delegates proclaimed that freedom of expression, inclusive of a free press, was a necessary ingredient in promoting liberty. From the Chapultepec Declaration, there are numerous ways in which its authors equate press freedom and democracy (BBC Monitoring International Reports, 2002).
The declaration’s preamble reads that individuals cannot exercise other forms of freedom if the freedom of press access to information is curbed. When the media operates unobstructed, as the document states, there is the surfacing of courage to ask for information, to disseminate it without restraints, to question it without fear, and to promote free exchange of ideas and views. Members of the public sphere cannot therefore exercise other rights if the freedom of press is held back (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
Chapultepec Declaration
The declaration compels authorities to avail in a timely and reasonable fashion the information generated by public offices. In addition, the law permits journalists to conceal their sources of information. What this means is that citizens of any given state need to know how their governments operate if they are to fully benefit from it. The press bridges the knowledge gap between bureaucrats who make decisions on their behalf, and the subjects of that particular state.
Any act of corruption and mismanagement of funds by policymakers often go unraveled if the press is barred from access to such information. Timely issue of information, or giving news which is not stale, is more trustworthy thus the need for fresh news. It raises the authenticity of such news stories, making them more credible. For security purposes, journalists should be allowed to hide the identity of sources who desire anonymity, since their lives may be in danger after whistle blowing or revealing the injustices committed by the state (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
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Chapultepec Declaration
In a democratic state, hindering press access to information through acts of murder, kidnappings, destruction of their facilities or even intimidating journalists, are counterproductive to the realization of liberty. This is because such harassments scare citizens of any state from accessing information and productively participating in governmental operations. That is why the declaration recommends the detention and punishment of government officers who do that, since harassing or intimidating journalists encourages impunity (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
The declaration adds that prior censorships, restrictions to the circulation of information, and managing of media by authorities are direct ways of infringing on the freedom of press access to information. Imposition of such hindrances by authorities limits liberty, which in turn infringes on the citizen’s rights to be aware of their government’s operations, the injustices committed, and corruption. Citizens at the grassroots level heavily depend on the press for information. Thus barring or restricting journalists’ movements in pursuit of information amounts to the violation of their liberty (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
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It is unethical and illegal of sources to favor journalists or media houses by means of assigning them radio frequencies, funding their operations or favoring them because of positive news coverage. These deeds lead to the publishing of biased news. Biased news coverage of sources limits citizens’ right to know the truth. For instance, a corrupt source of information may give journalists gifts so as to hide the truth from public notice. That is an act which hampers liberty (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
Chapultepec Declaration
The credibility of the press correlates with its commitment to reporting factual information, being accurate, fair and objective. In the absence of such principles, the press is seen as biased. Journalists should therefore be able to distinguish news from advertizing. To report advertisements as news would be to encourage publicity of such organizations thus infringement of liberty (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
Furthermore, the act insulates journalists from being punished by the state as a result of unraveling the truth. When journalists fear for their lives, they cannot unveil injustices and acts corruption committed by the ruling class (Mark & Fitzgerald, 1999).
All said, the Chapultepec Declaration will forever be remembered in the field of development journalism. For it has provided the impetus for exercising other rights, otherwise unattainable. Thus the most basic way of distinguishing democracy from autocracy is press access to information.
References
BBC Monitoring International Reports. (2002, May). St. Kits and Nevis signs Chapultepec
Declaration. BBC Monitoring International Reports, 1-2. Retrieved Oct 2, 2012, from http://www.ebscohost.com
