Challenges of the Knowledge Society (Apr 2011)
SOME ASPECTS ON THE CITIZEN'S RIGHTS. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND PRESS (ARC OVER TIME: 1866 - 1991)
Abstract
The enuntiation principles of the French Revolution of 1789 , equality , liberty and fraternity , have penetrated all the European countries of the nineteenth century, and continue to be the basic principles of all democratic societies even now, more than two centuries after the fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), symbol of the old regime , obtuse and dominating the world , with reminiscence of medieval Europe. Declaration of Human Rights and Citizen, developed and edited on 26 of August 1789 , provides in its preamble that "... ignoring, forgetting or disregarding human rights are the only causes of public evils and corruption of governments ...", thus showing that man and his rights were to become the center of the universe.It is necessary to start the analysis of political, cultural and constitutional life of Romania of the nineteenth century from these principles, because only thus will we will understand how the modern Romanian state formed , developed and evolved , first under the scepter of „The beloved prince of the Union”, Alexandru Ioan Cuza and then ,during the great reign of King Carol 1st, during which , it was adopted on 1st of July 1866, the first deed with the status and name of the Constitution. Over the years, exactly two hundred years after the French Revolution, Romanians cried their desire to live free in a country where human rights are respected and where access to information and freedom of expression must be met by fundamental Law . Our study comes to show the developments in the Romanian press of the two crucial moments in the historical development of Romania, respectively the first decade after the Constitution was adopted in 1866 and the first decade after December(1989).
