Freedom of Speech and Information in Global Perspective

This book offers a unique exploration of the current state of freedom of speech as a basic right available to everyone. The research focuses on the different development stages of the concept of freedom of speech and the use of modern indicators to depict the its treatment  in different legal cultures, including the obligations under international treaties and the effects that the globalising and digitalising environment have had on it. The authors conduct a broad survey of freedom of speech around the world, from Europe over Russia and both Americas to Africa, Asia, and Australia. The aim of this survey is to identify safeguards of freedom of speech on both a national and an international level, violations and threat scenarios, and in particular challenges to freedom of speech in the digital era.


Pekka Hallberg (LL.D. and D. Soc. Sc.) is Emeritus President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (1993-2012). Prior to this function, he has performed law-drafting duties at the Ministry of Justice, worked as a researcher and judge as well as a Professor of Administrative law at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He is the author of numerous titles in the fields of constitutional law, legal remedies, municipal law and environmental law.

Janne Virkkunen has worked at Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland, from 1971 and has been the Senior Editor-in Chief from 1991 to 2010. He has actively been working for freedom of speech at the International Press Institute since the late 1980s. His book about his career at Helsingin Sanomat, Päivälehden mies, was published in 2013.