“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say” (Voltaire). 

Freedom of Speech and Press includes the right to speak up, debate, express opinions about crucial predicaments, as well as the privileges to know about the government’s works. “It means that the government may not jail, fine, or impose civil liability on people or organizations based on what they say or write, except in exceptional circumstances”.

 These 'exceptional circumstances’ are topics that won’t receive as much protection from the First Amendment or will even encounter consequences depending on the level of severity.

1. “Defamation”: Fraudulent declaration that will damage a person’s or an organization’s reputation, especially when they understand that they’re intentionally deceiving the public.

2. “Threats”: In this case, threats to commit a crime will be punished. (For instance, “I will kill you if…”) 

3. “Fighting words”: Insult that will likely provoke direct violence. However, this excludes political arguments that will irritate others and prompt them to be aggressive. 

The European Union also “respects media freedom and pluralism and to uphold freedom of expression - which includes the right to receive and impart information without interference by public authority”.

In a current democratic world, you can directly criticize any elite authorities in the government if and only if you are able to ascertain they are wrong (through explicit evidence and logical arguments). Affirm that what they undertake is causing disruption and leakage in national and citizen wealth, privilege, and liberty. A non-suppression media is necessary to keep the government accountable for their action, serving as vital guidance for succeeding generations and a beneficial opportunity for ordinary civilians to access a comprehensive network of information and viewpoints related to various aspects of world happenings. 

In 1986, the Chernobyl tragedy will forever be remembered as the worst nuclear disaster in human history. What was infuriating is that Chernobyl was preventable, or at least the number of casualties wouldn’t be so high. Its failure was directly driven by the lack of transparency from the Soviet Union. “The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel”. The explosion happened on April 26, but the Kremlin remained silent and denied everything that had happened. It wasn't until the Scandinavian countries reported an unusually high level of radioactivity on April 28, that Moscow was propelled to officially reveal the explosion.

But, the Soviet Union continues to downplay the seriousness of the disaster.

On April 29, three days after the explosion, Moscow broadcast on television saying that “a reactor was damaged and aid was being provided to those who required it”. Students in Byelorussia (now known as Belarus) and Ukraine were told to continue with the May Day parades, even though they were in the worst hit region and were in danger of radioactive particles falling down on them. And yet the high Soviet leaders continued to cover up the severity of Chernobyl, Mikhail Timofeev - Soviet Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation told reporters that “rumors are a little exaggerated. It is not a catastrophe. It is an accident”.

Information inside the USSR was inadequate, as the people and even some officials were barely aware of the accident. 

“An attempt was made to keep Kiev, with its 2.5 million population, completely in the dark. Beginning 30 April, travel was cut off to the city for US and other diplomats, and radiation-monitoring equipment was confiscated by the KGB from Kiev area institutes and laboratories, allegedly to control information and to keep the city population calm immediately”.

Of course, the West was incensed at how the Kremlin managed the situation. “The Soviets owe the world an explanation”, President Ronald Reagan said at a summit in Indonesia. “A nuclear accident that results in contaminating a number of countries with radioactive is not simply an internal matter”.

Eventually, after 18 days of silence, Mikhail Gorbachev for the first time publicly spoke about the Chernobyl disaster in a 25-minute television speech. Most of his speech was defending the management of the incident, also indicting the West for using Chernobyl for an “unrestrained anti-Soviet campaign”. Nonetheless, Gorbachev did concede about the severity of the disaster’s scale, “For the first time, we encountered in reality such a sinister force as nuclear energy gone out of control,” he said.

However, a notable number of unspecified populations already got exposed to the radiation, the delay in revealing and consciously deluding the people about the catastrophe already contributed to the massive spread of thyroid cancer in the following years. The incident undoubtedly damaged the credibility of the Soviet Union, enraging its citizens, and was the trigger for the USSR’s collapse. 

“Its major role was in highlighting the systematic failures of the government, and more importantly, the failure to establish trust between the government and the people of the USSR”.

The tragedy compelled a pro-independence movement, especially in Byelorussia and Ukraine,  green groups in Ukraine started to gather in tens of thousands. “A Kiev resident told that she was outraged at the authorities for withholding timely information and accused officials of deliberately postponing the public announcement of the disaster until after the May Day celebration to show happy Kievans dancing in the streets”.

Chernobyl had exposed the inconsiderate ambitions made by the Soviets. The government decided to ignore the incurable measure of fatalities and consequences to prioritize the potential that the powerplant would provide. It happened right when Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to reform the USSR through Glasnost - a guarantee for better communications, press freedom, and elimination of secretiveness in government’s work, and Perestroika - democratizing the economy by removing socialist economic policies. Contrarily, they have failed their promise to improve the life of Soviet civilians by a trade-off resulting in millions getting radiation exposure and economic devastation.

Mr. Gorbachev said himself in a 2006 interview that: “The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of Perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later”.

Therefore, the freedom of speech and press played a key role in maintaining society’s stability, as it is the core principle of democracy. “A free media functions as a watchdog that can investigate and report on government wrongdoing”.

We need to learn from our mistakes so we can improve our societies, rather than attempting to run away and repudiate the faults that we created. Additionally, when we position everyone inside the darkness, it’s when the truth must be revealed that people will be incredibly enraged, terrified, or just wouldn’t accept the heartbreaking reality because they simply lived in the lies for their whole life and rather not believe in the hard but necessary truths of the world. 

Obviously, there are no countries in the world that are perfect and entirely have freedom of expression. But as a fundamental foundation of a society, it is essential that we are able to fully perceive the current situation, because we are the majority. The government ultimately is still a minor part of our societies that holds immeasurable power enough to determine our future. Power given to people without any control will push that person to accomplish whatever they desire no matter what it takes, and we have to constrain the manipulativeness of that power.