The paper starts from the premise that freedom of expression is imperative for political, social, economic and personal development. It also notes, however, that the manner in which freedom is interpreted differs considerably from one region to another. The difference it points out, often manifests itself in the debate of complete government control of the mass media versus an independent press. The paper argues that the USA, which has a relatively longer history of political democracy spells out press freedom explicitly in the constitution as against the case in developing countries where freedom of press is not explicitly guaranteed by the constitution. It further argues that a country which has had a longer and relatively more stable form of government has a better chance of clarifying exactly what freedom of expression entails, and that freedom of expression is a dynamic process.
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