Censorship and the Law: Balancing Public Interest and Free Speech

Shuaib, Farid Sufian (2012) Censorship and the Law: Balancing Public Interest and Free Speech. In: Conference on Media and Society, Media, Censorship and Society: Crossroads between Global and Local Realities, 24-26 September 2012, Kuching, Sarawak. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

A free media is a bedrock of democracy as espoused by the Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib since without a free media reporting uncomfortable truths about the government how could the populace participate in governance. However, absolute freedom has no place in any country since absolute freedom will lead to anarchy. The task then is to strike a balance between a free media and competing individual and societal interests. The objective of this paper is to look at constitutional guarantee of free media and restrictions imposed upon the media and provide a legal analysis on the guarantee of free media, the restrictive laws and the application of the laws. The recent development on media laws where the government had loosen restrictive laws such as the scrapping off the annual newspaper licence is considered together with the need for further liberalisation of media laws to produce media that is vibrant, transparent and fair.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Full Paper)
Additional Information:	1859/28048
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) > H61.8 Communication of information H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) > H96 Public policy (General), Policy sciences K Law > K Law (General)
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws > Department of Civil Law
Depositing User:	Prof. Dr. Farid Sufian Shuaib
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2013 13:52
Last Modified:	14 Feb 2013 04:25
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/28048

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