The press and the right to freedom of thought

Article 21 of the Italian Constitution protects freedom of the press: “Everyone has the right to freely express their thoughts in speech, writing and any other means of dissemination. The press cannot be subject to authorization or censorship”.
It establishes freedom of speech and of the press and that no Italian citizen can be persecuted for having made his ideas public.
In a democratic country it is important to have good information about the society we live in and to be able to discuss freely and openly.
It is important to have a free press.
Citizens have the right to disseminate information without interference or fear of reprisals by the state, as long as it is not contrary to morality.
Unfortunately, the freedom of the press is threatened. Authoritarian governments want to keep power above all else. But when the flow of information is controlled by the government or the oligarchs, people get a distorted picture of what is going on.
An emblematic case was that of the Russian journalist Ovsyannikova who on March 14 showed an anti-war billboard, during the live broadcast of Russia 1 channel, with the words: “Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They are lying to you” .
She was immediately arrested by the Russian State Police and after days of waiting she was released and fined.
A gesture of denunciation made spontaneously and without concern for the consequences.
The reporter was found guilty of “unorganized demonstration”.
It is clear that information is manipulated by the state and that there is no freedom of thought in Russia.
But what can we do to defend the freedom of the press? If we are lucky enough to live in a country with a free press, we should support it through donations, reading newspapers and learning to use online media safely. It also means supporting the right to freedom of expression, which goes hand in hand with having a free press. And we can also elect politicians who support freedom of the press and who pass laws to protect it.
There can be no democracy without a free press