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WORLD VIEW:‘PRESS FREEDOM is a responsibility exercised by journalists on behalf of the public.” This is a good definition because it grounds the freedom outside the media’s own self-interest. Journalism can then be seen as a public good serving the public interest, part of the exercise of citizenship in a democratic society.

In a similar spirit, the preamble to the Press Council of Ireland’s code of practice states that “the freedom to publish is vital to the right of the people to be informed”. It goes on to say “the public interest is invoked in relation to a matter capable of affecting the people at large so that they may legitimately be interested in receiving and the press legitimately be interested in providing information about it”.