At a special event organized by the students of Maldives College of Higher Education’s journalism programme to mark the Press Freedom Day, President Mohamed Nasheed has lectured on policy jargon and freedom of language.
The President said in the past, it was not only the journalists who were under arrest, and not only the freedom of expression that was restricted, but rather the main obstacle to press freedom was that Dhivehi language had been “under arrest”.
Highlighting the increasing freedom on the use of language during the past few years, the President said new words, as well as political and policy jargon were now being introduced into mainstream media.
He said if new political and policy jargon were properly explained at this early stage, these words and connotations associated with them would become mainstreamed.
The President said, therefore, this would make it easier for journalists to write concise and comprehensive reports.
After his lecture, the President responded to questions from the students.
