Terrorism and Free Speech

State of emergency 緊急事態
A (local or national) government may declare that an area is in a state of emergency. This means that the government can suspend and/or change some functions of the executive (行政府), the legislative (立法) and/or the judiciary (司法) during the period of time.

This also allows the authorities to set curfews (外出禁止令) and limit the movement of people; such as setting secure zones where people can be monitored; and, forbid mass gatherings.

Security service and police: receives the right to make house searches at anytime without judicial oversight, enforce house arrest and confiscate certain classes of weapon.

What is the role of the press?
The purpose of the press is to keep in public spotlight every deliberation and decision that the government makes, since everything the government does is to be done on the people’s behalf. Any proposed action or change by the government must be researched and examined in detail, with conversation and debate promoted around areas of import.

Members of the public cannot sit still and be passive participants of their state, but must, for the state to be a democracy, take an active role in asserting their will. The role of the press is to support this in two ways:

1) to inform the public on what is being discussed, and the background to what is being discussed, and

2) to promote conversation and debate around political issues so that no change or action may go through unnoticed, for such things, not being approved by the public, cannot with any certainty represent the will of the public.

For a democracy to be a true democracy, the people must be active participants in political discourse, and for this to happen, the press itself must be an active agent that brings this about.

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