NATIONS are again preparing for the annual observances of World Press Freedom Day next week (May 3), to be followed a fortnight later by World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (May 17) and then by International Day for Universal Access to Information (September 28).

UNESCO says World Press Freedom Day is “a day to remind governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom” and “for reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics”.

It also says: “Universal Access to Information means that everyone has the right to Seek, Receive and Impart information…”
All are principles worth pursuing, but each is interpreted differently and achievement depends on the extent to which press, people and governments grab and grasp their core essence of meaning.

Every CARICOM member state faces the same revolving-door challenge of the press and governments being judged, not by the way they see themselves or each other, but by citizens’ perceptions.
Societal disagreements over interpretation also result in all interested parties always falling short of agreeing on taking common steps in the mutual interests of all.

Some media houses see themselves as eternal government watchdogs while others take clear sides, some preach independence and practice otherwise, while others go overboard trying to take impossible ‘neutral’ and ‘middle of the road’ positions.

And all equally claim all the rights and freedoms being heralded by UNESCO.
But some also simply refuse to accept each right and freedom comes with equal responsibilities, each side watching the same principles with different eyes.

Expectations differ as much as yardsticks used to measure progress on each front and goalposts can be shifted when the game isn’t going in some players’ favour.
Measuring freedoms, rights and responsibilities have changed by Light Years in the three decades since the Internet was born, changing life faster than the majority can grasp, adopt and adapt to.

Microsoft, Google and Apple were followed by Facebook and Twitter, WhatsApp and Tic Tok, Instagram and Telegram, new media giants being spawned everywhere by people’s natural need to know — and wanting to know more.

Social media has forced mainstream media everywhere to go online-or-bust, netizens hardly accept they’re a minority in most Caribbean societies and there’s now a very thin line between information and propaganda.

Images continue to render words useless as expanding viewing platforms turn reading into an endangered habit; and wars being won or lost in people’s minds according to how much the mind can absorb images of horrors of war relayed a thousand times over.

But through it all, people always use their own human filters to process information, most times faster and better than given credit for, especially in Caribbean societies where everyone knows everyone and everyone knows something about everyone else.

Every CARICOM nation has its own history of the antagonisms between the press and politicians and every government is at some point accused by the press of “violating” press freedom, “restricting” rights, “withholding” or “controlling” information flows.

In each country too, the press can be accused of selectively applying principles by demanding rights and freedoms without accepting or being guided by the responsibilities that come with each.

All that said, the press in CARICOM is still very largely free to work and information still flows freely, even if too many everywhere still misunderstand, overestimate or undervalue the true new values of press freedom and universal access to information and new trends of life in the age of the Internet of Things.

But the gap between rights and responsibilities is still too wide and deep and in need of bridging.