Regardless of Frontiers Global Freedom of Expression in a Troubled World Edited by Lee C. Bollinger and Agnés Callamard

Regardless of Frontiers

Global Freedom of Expression in a Troubled World Edited by Lee C. Bollinger and Agnés Callamard, the first one 19th President of Columbia University, the second the director of Columbia's Global Freedom of Expression initiative and the one who headed the investigation on the murder of the Washington Post's journalist Jamal Khashoggi open a discussion with this book on the exigency of freedom of expression in a world sometimes also where there are affirmed democracies, as it happened in the USA these past four years, where we can see a delegitimation of the profession of reporters and journalists because of an extremist president.

It is clear, that a coordination between nations would be more than welcomed for the creation of a world more free of expression. Too many journalists are dying because they try to report in freedom what they think of this world; facts, people, situations; it is unacceptable.

It is more than necessary in this moment a "globalization of journalism", with common principles, like the one of free speech that should be common and recognized in the entire world; we are still behind under many ways, as adds Bollinger in the preface of the book, on normative conflicts and contests, pointing the finger on the one against hate speech and incitement: it hasn't yet found any kind of convergence, but this problem remains big because there are several important words that should be set free so that journalists would work better, much better: autonomy and dignity, and trust me when I tell you that they are fundamentally important under many aspects!

The book is divided in four parts; the first one analyzes the priorities that there are in the profession, like the realization of a global norm for protecting the journalist's sources, reputation and freedom of expression, but also the freedom of political expression; the second  takes in consideration intergovenmental institutions and International Actors seeing international norms; the third part will let us enter in a chapter, in the social media platforms and Freddom of Expression Norms, seeing also the situation of medias in China. The final part will treat the interactive global jurisprudence; a curious case the one of the journey of the Right to be Forgotten, born in Europe in the 1970s.

Highly recommended book to all the people in the journalistic field or the curious ones.

I thank Columbia University Press for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori