Press kit for The Swedish Freedom of the Press Unfolded
Social media:
When communicating the project in social media use below hashtags:
#ThisIsFreedom
#DefendingFreeSpeech
#FreeSpeechGreaterIdeas
#SweInstitute
#frittord250
Press images:
This image may be used when marketing the exhibition. Download the image here:
Please note that the image may only be used in communication regarding the exhibition! If you wish to use other images from the exhibition in marketing or press you must contact SIfirst.
Press text:
The text on the following page can be used in whole or partly when promoting the project. The Swedish Institute must be mentioned as a partner in all communication.
For more information or support, please contact project managers at SI.The Swedish Freedom of the Press Unfolded – a timeline exhibition
The freedom to express oneself in speech and writing is one of the basic human rights according to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948. In Sweden this right dates back even longer. Recurrently ranked among the top countries on any global freedom ofthe press index, Sweden was in fact the first country in the world to write both freedom of the press and access to information into its constitution. The exhibition Swedish Freedom of the Press Unfolded, now showing at [venue] on [dates], tells the sometimes dramatic story of how Sweden came to be a vital forerunner in the history of Western democracy.
The year 2016 marks the 250th anniversary ofthe passing of the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act.Signed by King Adolf Frederik on 2 December 1766, this ground-breaking document was the first in the world toconstitutionally protect freedom of the press, preceding the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) by ten years and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) by almost twenty-five years.
By retelling the history of the Swedish freedom of the press, from the first printed book to the age of digitisation,the unique timeline exhibitionTheSwedish Freedom of the Press Unfoldedseeks not only to commemorate this historically unique document butalso to showcase the sometimes surprising events preceding and following this date. In so doing, the exhibition offers an honest account of the mechanisms and experiences leading up to where Swedish freedom of the press is at today, thereby reminding the visitors that freedom of the press may never be taken for granted. Rather, it must be constantly fought for, scrutinised and debated – in Sweden as much as elsewhere.
For in the words of Anders Chydenius (1729–1803), the founding father of the first Swedish of the Press Act:‘The freedom ofa nation is alwaysproportional to itsfreedom of the press,so that one cannotexist without the other.’
The exhibition The Swedish Freedom of the Press Unfoldedis showing at [venue]on [dates]as a joint undertaking between the Swedish Institute, the Swedish Foreign Mission, [partner]and[partner].
For further information and for interviews, please contact:
[contact person and contact information]