In the process, the Press selects, adapts the content, abbreviates and adds comment. A vigorous and independent Press not only relays events, it is a scout and a forerunner and paves the way for things to come. The Press insists on its right to inform a country s citizens about the activities of the government so that people can see how they are being governed and see corruption and irregularities when they appear. Where politicians and the powerful resort to cover-ups, the Press exposes. No society can exist without adequate and effective channels of communication.
National integration requires communication patterns that are essential to support political action.
From the time the draft constitution was rejected, our country s struggle for democracy has been fraught with danger. A movement of the Press, which seeks the just and equitable distribution of the powers that have long been held by a small ruling elite is likely to be prolonged and difficult. Hope is irrepressible, but there is a deep underlying premonition that the hostility to the independent Press is going to be more vicious after the bombing of the printing press of The Daily News. Revolutions generally reflect the irresistible impulse for necessary changes, which have been held back by official policies. But Press freedom is anathema to authoritarianism.