International Journal of International Relations, Media and Mass Communication Studies Vol.1, No.2, pp.25-36, June 2015 ___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org) 25 ISSN 2059-1845; ISSN 2059-1853 TOWARDS A GLOBAL DEMOCRATIZATION OF FREE SPEECH: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LANDMINES ON THE TRAJECTORY OF PRESS FREEDOM IN NIGERIA Itieke-Idamieba Harry Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Management Sciences, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. ABSTRACT: This paper offers a critical evaluation of constitutional traps along the path of press freedom in Nigeria within the framework of the global efforts aimed at the democratization of free speech. These assertions are etched in international and domestic instruments like the United Nations Declaration on Human and Peoples Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Constitution of several countries, etc. The investigation climaxes on the altar of the Constitution because it is the fundamental and organic law of the country from which all other laws derive their validity. The subject matter is analysed and discussed with the utilization of both formal and material sources of law and other literature survey. It concludes by underscoring the cold reality that the press are ‘free’ but bound in chains from a critical vista with derogable and clawback measures in the constitution strewn on the trajectory of press freedom in the country. KEYWORDS: derogable measures, clawback measures, press freedom, constitution, liberty of expression. Introduction The Awake! magazine of July 22, 1996 states that ‘throughout history men have fought for freedom of speech. Laws have been passed, wars have been fought, and lives have been lost over the right to express an idea publicly (P.3). It queried: ‘Why should such a seemingly natural right have formented controversy, even to the point of bloodshed? Why have societies, both past and present, found it necessary to restrict or even prohibit the exercise of this right’? (p.3). Amadi (2014) navigates and provides a gander on the possible reason(s). According to him, ‘irrespective of time and space, one suspicion has continued to unsettle the ruling class. The belief that anarchy will reign where freedom of expression is not restrained has always alarmed the hegemonic class’ (p.10). Granting an historical and instructive account of this mistrust, he continued as follows: The fear of freedom of expression started when Emperors began contaminating Christianity, despite Bible’s disapproval (John 15:19; John 14: 30; 1 st John 5:19; John 6: 14-15) with temporal powers (Cairns, 1981). For instance, Thomas Hobbes ‘The Leviathan’ – that infamous but seminar tirade against freedom of speech – was inspired after the feudal lords of modern day Germany - ‘The ‘Reichstag’ – were cajoled by the Roman Catholic Church to rise against a social system where freedom of expression reigned (Kunczik, 1995, P.16). The censorship edict issued by the catholic church in 1482 triggered the global wave of mistrust that characterized the relationship between world rulers and the media. By 1847, the Pope had decreed that no one would be allowed to publish anything without prior scrutiny by the ‘Roman