Censorship

Censorship

Freedom of the press has been an issue between people and their governments since the time individuals first published newspapers. In 18th century Europe publishers were frequently hampered by censorship. Sweden was the first (1766) to produce a law guaranteeing freedom of the press. The freedom to publish items without government interference or prior censorship was one of the basic human rights established by the United Nations on 10 Dec., 1948. This does not protect the writeror publisher from laws prohibiting sedition, libel, and obscenity once published. [AM] {CI,BA,CR}