British High Commissioner Fiona Ritchie challenges media practitioners to write more stories on Democracy
British High Commissioner to Malawi Fiona Ritchie has challenged media practitioners in the country to write more stories on democracy as one way of enlightening Malawians about their rights for them to ably participate in the affairs of the country.
She said this during the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) at Fort Johnstone Hotel in Mangochi.
“You need to write more stories that deepen and promote democracy to keep Malawians informed about what the democratic world demands for them to effectively participate in development activities,” she urged.
Ritchie also challenged the media to write stories on the environment to keep Malawians informed of the importance of the same and how they can protect it to avert problems that occur due to the depletion of the environment.
Media practitioners today are celebrating the WPFD under the theme: Guardians of Democracy: Championing Media Independence for Free and Credible Election.
At the moment the media practitioners are having a panel discussion, but later in the evening, they will converge at Nkopola for a dinner and media awards.
The Enlightenment of democracy brought secular thought to Europe. The movement also reshaped the ways people understood issues such as liberty, equality, and individual rights. Today those ideas serve as the cornerstone of the world’s strongest democracies.
The Enlightenment” has been regarded as a turning point in the intellectual history of the West. The principles of religious tolerance, optimism about human progress, and a demand for rational debate are often thought to be a powerful legacy of the ideas of Locke, Newton, Voltaire, and Diderot.
Democracy “provides an environment that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in which the freely expressed will of people is exercised.”
Human rights are a set of principles concerned with equality and fairness. They recognize our freedom to make choices about our lives and to develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment, or discrimination.
Human rights are needed to protect and preserve every individual’s humanity, to ensure that every individual can live a life of dignity and a life that is worthy of a human being. Question: Why “should” anyone respect them? Fundamentally, because everyone is a human being and therefore a moral being.
Democratic needs are options for training that are preferred, selected, or voted for by employees or managers, or both. Programs that address these needs are likely to be accepted and desired by organization members. Therefore democratic needs can be used to build support for training programs.
Features of democracy oftentimes include freedom of assembly, association, personal property, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
A participatory democracy is a model of democracy in which citizens have the power to make policy decisions. Participatory democracy emphasizes the broad participation of people in politics. However, this is not a direct democracy, in which citizens are directly responsible for making policy decisions.
The key principles of participatory democracy regarding government decision-making start with the notion of popular sovereignty, in which the people are said to hold the power, with elected officials merely serving as their bureaucrats.
The environment underpins our economy, our society, and indeed our very existence. Our forests, rivers, oceans, and soils provide us with the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we irrigate our crops with. We also rely on them for numerous other goods and services we depend on for our health, happiness, and prosperity.
Despite recent attacks on press freedom by the government, journalists from across the country have gathered in Mangochi to celebrate World Press Freedom Day with unwavering resolve.
In 2024, World Press Freedom Day is dedicated to the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis.
Freedom of the press gives the printer or publisher exclusive control over what the publisher chooses to publish, including the right to refuse to print anything for any reason. If the author cannot reach a voluntary agreement with a publisher to produce the author’s work, then the author must turn to self-publishing.
