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ScottishPanda

May 3 • 52 tweets • 12 min read

[thread]

I wanted to do a thread that on the letter C

Which to be honest

Is a bit dangerous given where UK politics is at the moment

So sorry to disappoint you

It's not a 4 letter C word

I try to avoid that in my writing

Although I do occasionally litter my threads with some profanity

Instead

I have three C's I want to talk about

My first C is a chemist

My second C is a comedian

I am not sure which to do first

So I will do them in chronological order

The topic is fittingly #WorldPressFreedomDay #WorldPressFreedomDay2022

So let's get going

My first C studied as a chemist

And then went on to become a politician

Of course

It is Margaret Thatcher

I am going to focus on one speech

Given on Tuesday 28th November 1978 to the Institute of Journalists

I am going to split this speech up into individual tweets and then put the whole at the end (side by side with the comedian)

I will shorten some punctation/bits to fit in with the character limit

Why is press freedom so important? It isn't because our newspapers are invariably literate, scrupulous & wise. They aren't. It is because newspapers exist not only to protect their own freedom, but to defend the freedom of others. That freedom is threatened both at home & abroad.

Your hospitality tonight precludes me from giving you one of those high-minded lectures on the importance of your behaving responsibly, which some politicians in the past have made the mistake of delivering to your profession.

In any case, I am bound to say that I am reasonably satisfied with the traditional arrangement under which we politicians leave you journalists to get on with your job while you journalists tell us how to do ours.

It is an arrangement which, for all its exasperations, is essential to the functioning of parliamentary democracy.

Guardians of the public conscience you may be, and it is a noble role; formers of public opinion you certainly are, but you are also, and it is in this that your value largely consists, you are also reflectors of the public mind.

Without you politicians would easily find themselves living in a cosy little world of their own imagining, blissfully ignorant, until too late, of what the people thought of them and of their policies.

So press freedom is something which ought to be as dear to politicians as it is to journalists; I want to suggest to you, however, (& I think I can do so without being “sensational” , a vice which I know you all deplore) that this freedom is in danger on a number of fronts.

The full speech at:

margaretthatcher.org/document/103789

Now we move on to the comedian

I really hope you all remember what the real purpose of this evening is the reason we are here is to honour and celebrate the 4th estate and what you stand for, what you stand for.

An additional check and balance that holds power to account and gives voice to those who otherwise wouldn't have one. And like I am not just talking about CNN or Fox or any of the other major organisations I am talking about everyone the young journalists we saw today.

Intrepid journalists who aren't even in this room in Flint, Michigan, that daring reporter in the Des Moines Register or the unflinching local newscaster in El Paso, Texas. Every single one of you whether you like it or not is a bastion of democracy.

If you ever begin to doubt your responsibilities, if you ever begin to doubt how meaningful it is look at what's happening in Ukraine. Journalists are risking and even losing their lives to show the world whats really happening.

You realise how amazing it is. In America you have the right to seek the truth and speak the truth even if it makes people in power uncomfortable. Even if it makes your readers or your viewers uncomfortable. You realise how amazing that is.

I stood here tonight and I made fun of the President of the United States and I'm going to be fine. I am going to be fine, right?

Do you really understand what a blessing it is. Maybe it has happened for so long that it might slip your mind. It is a blessing.

Ask yourself this question - if Russian journalists who are losing their livelihoods and their freedom for daring to report on what their own government is doing.

If they had the freedom to write any words, to show any stories or to ask any questions. If they had basically what you have, would they be using it in the same way that you do?

Ask yourself that question every day. Because you have one of the most important roles in the world.

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1520598522000719874

I transcribed it from :

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1520598522000719874

Side by side

https://twitter.com/cabinetofficeuk/status/1521475705502060545

So now we get onto our third C

The Cabinet Office

https://twitter.com/cabinetofficeuk/status/1521475705502060545

The words from the video:

Free media is essential to democracy

Giving citizens access to information

In times of crises especially

Journalists must be free to question and publish the truth

I will come back to those words.

https://twitter.com/RSF_inter/status/1521379119891636224

So on #WorldPressFreedomDay #WorldPressFreedomDay2022

Here is where the UK sits

https://twitter.com/RSF_inter/status/1521379119891636224

https://twitter.com/RSF_inter/status/1521395299373170689

https://twitter.com/RSF_inter/status/1521395299373170689

https://twitter.com/kajakallas/status/1521431033815703552

Here is the Prime Minister of Estonia

https://twitter.com/kajakallas/status/1521431033815703552

Free media is essential to democracy

Giving citizens access to information

In times of crises especially

Journalists must be free to question and publish the truth

theguardian.com/politics/2019/…