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ARTICLE 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

— ~The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in Paris.~,

Freedom of opinion, expression and information, recognized as an integral aspect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, is a vital factor in the strengthening of peace and international understanding. It is needed to replace the secrecy and manipulation of information which characterize the culture of war. In this regard, the media can be a powerful partner for the construction of a culture of peace. Its technological advances and pervasive growth have made it possible for every person to take part in the making of history, enabling for the first time a truly global movement for a culture of peace. At the same time, however, the media is sometimes misused to create and disseminate enemy images, violence and even genocide against other ethnic and national groups, and to portray and glorify violence in many forms. Also secrecy is on the increase, justified in terms of 'national security' and 'economic competitiveness', whereas in fact more transparency is needed in governance and economic decision-making. Therefore, actions are proposed in support of this aim which realize the positive potential of the media to provide essential information and to promote, via participatory communication, the values, attitudes and behaviours of a culture of peace."

— From the archives of the World Commission on Culture and Development (UNESCO 1995) and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), and also from the Universal Postal Union, the Organization of American States and UNESCO."

At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern. The freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty -- and thus a good unto itself -- but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. (...) As Justice Holmes wrote, when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."

—United States Supreme Court, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46,