Strictly speaking, of the three essential categories of legislation listed above - the basic constitutional guarantee, freedom of information and of access to meetings of public bodies, and libel - only the fundamental declaration of press freedom is a press law as such. Freedom of information is a right of all citizens, and libel law is not aimed at the press in particular. It should also be noted that libel is most generally a civil offence, an effort by a citizen or a company to collect damages, and not a criminal offence pursued by the state. Journalists are not thrown in jail for libel, and media cannot be banned for it (although damage awards are sometimes so high as to threaten a publication's existence). Far from being a Fourth Estate or a Fourth Power, let alone a Fourth Branch of government, as it has often been called, the press is a weak twig if it must serve as the sole counterweight to government. Furthermore, the press is many and varied, while the government is normally unified. When Westerners argue against a press that is engage, they do not deny the right of a free press to be partisan (as the Western press was throughout the 19th century). Rather, they believe that public perception of the press as trying to provide fair coverage is not only desirable for its own sake, but that this is also a guarantee of credibility. Thus, it is a protection against the temptation of restrictive legislation. If the State is to serve the public welfare rather than be an end in itself, if officials are to be public servants rather than rulers, then the press must be free to do its job as it sees fit. The State should develop the nation, if it can. The State should guard its own secrets, if it can. The press should be left alone to report on how well the government does and to echo various public reactions. The electorate should be the ultimate judge of government, through the vote, and of the media, through the marketplace. The international community understood that in 1948 when it enshrined the global standard for free speech and free press, unqualified and unrestricted, in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." *** In 1987, journalists from 34 countries held a World Conference on Censorship in London. They approved a Charter for a Free Press enjoining governments to refrain from the kinds of practices that were used to throttle freedom of expression under totalitarian rule. Formally adopted by a long list of international free-press organisations, its 10 points are not a corporatist plea, but a collective cry by journalists as citizens to all governments: For freedom's sake, keep your hands off the press. The text of the Charter follows. CSCE ODIHR BULLETIN Vol. 2, No. 1 16