Press Freedom in Latin America and the Emerging International Right to Communicate

This article focuses on Latin America and examines the trend in the region to pass laws restricting journalists, in particular laws requiring reporters and news organizations to be licensed. The article briefly reviews and updates the UNESCO debate concerning the proposed NWICO; evaluates the NWICO concept based upon accepted sources of international law and considers whether the products of the UNESCO debate are themselves new sources of law; examines aspects of the Latin American experience, including the important case of Stephen Schmidt, an American reporter who was convicted under a Costa Rican licensing statute in 1983; and analyzes the current status of the 'right to communicate' in Latin America today and questions whether that region's development of international law in the area of freedom of expression should be considered a precursor of discouraging news for those who cherish a free press as a critical human right.

Boston College Third World Law Journal, Volume 9, Issue 1 (1989). PDF.