THE MEDIA in developing countries should continue to fight for press freedom and be willing to pay a heavy price for it, said Rehana Hakim, editor of Pakistan's Newsline magazine.
Describing press freedom as the "basic cornerstone of democracy", she urged journalists to be brave and courageous in their fight for freedom of information.
"Although we are all in the Commonwealth, each country is at different stages of democracy.
"Those who have achieved greater press freedom should cherish it, while those who have yet to attain it should work even harder," she said in her talk entitled "Commonwealth Journalism: Common Values, Common problems, A Common Future?".
She was jointly discussing the topic with Times of Zambia's political editor Kondwani Chirambo during a plenary session.
Elaborating on her paper, she said press freedom was something that each country had to earn for themselves.
"Press freedom is never on a silver platter - you have to work very hard for it," she said, citing examples of journalists in Pakistan who had to endure imprisonment, torture, prosecution and danger in order to achieve this goal.
"The beauty of democracy is that you get to hear many voices and the role of the press is to be a forum for healthy, constructive and open discussion," she said.
Chirambo, who described journalists as "the conscience of humanity", said the press' contribution to democracy should be steeped towards professionalism.
"Biases will always be there, but balancing news coverage is something we can achieve," he said, adding that there could be no democratic governance without a free press.
