FLUSHING MEADOWS: The General Assembly of the United Nations today [May 14] approved of a Convention of Freedom of Information, which Mr Erwin D. Canham (United States) described as the first attempt in history, “to write into International Law a Charter for the gathering and international transmission of news”. The convention institutes an international right of correction. By this provision if a State feels that news concerning it, published abroad, is false or distorted and is capable of injuring its relations with other states, it may send its own version to the country of publication. Publication of the correction is not mandatory, but if the correction is not published by the receiving state, the machinery of the UN Secretariat’s information channels will be used to give publicity to the correction.

The Assembly sat until three this morning to approve the convention. Other main provisions on the convention ... are: (1) freedom of movement for correspondents and equal access to news; (2) prohibition of censorship in peace time except on grounds of national defence.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2024