Freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Denmark are ensured by ยง 77 of the constitution:
- Anyone is entitled to in print, writing and speech to publish his or hers thoughts, yet under responsibility to the courts. Censorship and other preventive measures can never again be introduced.
The phrase under responsibility to the courts provides the main concept of the freedom: the constitution grants one the freedom to say whatever they please, but does not protect them from being punished for doing so. The courts generally set wider boundaries for what is deemed inappropriate for the press or in a political debate than for civil citizens.
The major punishable acts are child pornography, libel, blasphemy, and hate speech/racism, which are restricted by the Danish penal code. Like most other countries, Denmark also forbids publishing classified material harmful to state security, copyright-protected material without permission and revealing trade secrets in the civil law.
In 2004, 2005, and 2009 Denmark received a joint first place in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders. In 2011-2012 Denmark was tied with Canada at tenth out of 179 in the index.
Read more about Freedom Of Speech And Freedom Of The Press In Denmark: Child Pornography, Libel, Blasphemy, Hate Speech and Racism, State Security
Famous quotes containing the words freedom of, freedom, speech and/or press:
“All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride,
Lose the freedom of the sod,
Like a colt’s for work be shod,”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will’s freedom after it.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Speech and prose are not the same thing. They have different wave-lengths, for speech moves at the speed of light, where prose moves at the speed of the alphabet, and must be consecutive and grammatical and word-perfect. Prose cannot gesticulate. Speech can sometimes do nothing more.”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)
“An art whose limits depend on a moving image, mass audience, and industrial production is bound to differ from an art whose limits depend on language, a limited audience, and individual creation. In short, the filmed novel, in spite of certain resemblances, will inevitably become a different artistic entity from the novel on which it is based.”
—George Bluestone, U.S. educator, critic. “The Limits of the Novel and the Limits of the Film,” Novels Into Film, Johns Hopkins Press (1957)