Los orígenes del derecho a ser informado

Abstract

The juridical and political shaping up of the right to be informed is a recent fact. The author of this paper considers that this formal establishment has been related in a confused and complex manner with the much heralded freedom of the press -as seen in its beginnings as the mere non-existence of censorship. The author also underlines the generally forgotten fact that the first formal statements regarding freedom of the press as the right to free individual express ion does not dwell upon the information given in itself but rather deals with stated opinions and, frequently, with ideas and sentiments put forth by the informer. It does not therefore entail the diffusion of the ideas and sentiments of other people, and so it is often required that such expressions be publicly authenticated by the beneficiary or user. The right to be informed has been denied more often than it has been safeguarded along the stages of the constitutional establishment of liberty. Notable exceptions have been the road followed by American jurisprudence, and, more recently, by the Federal and State Constitutions of the German Federal Republic, which have formalized this right. Closer to home, we come across the Fraga Law as a furthering attempt or consequence of one of the rights proclaimed by the Fuero. Supported by this fact, the legislator of 1966 by applying the preceding prinCipie further extends it and transfers its sphere of reference: we therefore pass to the new right to be informed under the protection of the right to freedom of expression.