The only way to prove that freedom of expression exists is if it is offensive, a right that at present is under attack, according to veteran journalist, documentary filmaker and writer, Brian Winston.
"If you can't offend then you cannot know that expression is free. Should that paradox be forgotten - and in my view it is being on all quarters on a daily basis - then the right of free expression is seriously endangered. And it is," he said.
Prof. Winston, Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, was speaking during a public lecture organised by the Strickland Foundation, in conjunction with the Centre for Communication Technology of the University of Malta.
The lecture was opened by President Emeritus Guido de Marco, who dwelled on freedom of expression as fundamental to a democratic society.
During the well-attended lecture at Villa Parisio, the seat of the Strickland Foundation, Prof. Winston specified that by offence he was not referring to incitement, which was prohibited and caused damage.
"I am not talking about incitement - although there has been much comment that in the UK we let the leader of the fascist British National Party get away with offensive remarks, couched in general descriptive terms, about Islam while we punished placard holders who were calling for people who insulted Islam to be beheaded," he pointed out.
The point was that there were people who sought not just a remedy against being offended, but direct prohibitions that offensive material should never be published. "In other words we are being asked to reverse three centuries of our traditions so that, for example, blasphemy instead of being actionable after utterance, be prohibited before," he said.
"We are being asked that the principle of lese majestie - which still exists in modern form in those countries where it is illegal to 'insult the state' or its leaders - be extended to whole groups merely on their own say-so.
"I mean if one's faith is so fragile that it cannot withstand a joke, what value is it? It's absurd that if someone's rude to you, you collapse in a heap."
In a world awash with pornography, telephoto lenses and audio bugging devices, where anything seemed to go, there would seem to be no basis for concern for media liberty.
" Yet, behind this flood, which many find more than offensive, the basics of free expression, as a concept receiving widespread support, are being eroded. There is, for example, little appetite to support any general extension of press freedom to new media."
Prof. Winston gave a lengthy historical background on the evolution of freedom of expression and also referred to a survey conducted in 1991 to celebrate the bicentennial of the First Amendment, on behalf of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The survey revealed that two-thirds of respondents would not afford the media automatic protection to editorialise during a political campaign; to cover the sexual behaviour of politicians; to publish graphic photographs; or to report on security matters without prior government approval.
"It is apparent that free expression is in very deep trouble," he said.