229 years ago today, March 19, 1796 (February 11, 1796 in the lunar calendar), France implemented press freedom. Press freedom was introduced in France on March 19, 1796. Although modern newspapers appeared in France at the end of the 15th century, press publishing has always been the prerogative of the royal family. This industry is absolutely controlled by the royal family and no one is allowed to interfere with it at will. However, the king and the royal family can grant this privilege to others, and the person receiving the authorization must ensure that he does not violate all royal family regulations and must pay various taxes. The king appointed a "press and publication censor" to pre-censor all publications across the country. In the 17th century, there were more than 300 such prosecutors. The British intellectual struggle for press freedom has had an impact on France. Entering the 18th century, French thoughts on press freedom were fully explained and spread through the works of enlightened thinkers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau. During the French Revolution in 1789, all classes and classes wrote letters demanding freedom of the press. Robespierre of the Jacobins was the first political commentator in the history of world news to explain press freedom legislation. He advocated that the right to express one's thoughts through language, writing and publications cannot be restricted or restricted by any means; the law should not punish people for expressing their opinions at any time; the purpose of legislation is to protect you, not punish you. The famous French Declaration of Human Rights stipulates in Article 11:"The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of mankind; Therefore, every citizen has the freedom to speak, write and publish, but is responsible for abuse of this freedom in circumstances prescribed by law." This provision became a model for reference in many subsequent national constitutions and international human rights conventions. However, France's press freedom system was not established with the birth of this constitutional legal clause, but experienced more than a century of hardships with the tortuous process of French revolution and restoration. In 1793, the ruling Jacobins ruthlessly suppressed opposition newspapers; After Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, he closed down all opposition newspapers and independent party newspapers. He established an organization called the "Press Office" to handle the daily management of newspaper publishing. Napoleon had a famous saying: "A newspaper is worth 3,000 muskets." French journalism academia believes that the period of Napoleon's rule was the worst period for the French press and publishing industry in modern times. Later, the restored Bourbon Dynasty established the King James Charter to ostensibly protect press freedom, but soon it issued the July Pardon, announcing a complete cessation of press freedom. In the decades that followed, with the growth and decline of the restoration and revolutionary forces, the news censorship system was sometimes cancelled and sometimes restored. The establishment of press freedom in France was marked by the promulgation of the Press Freedom Act (Loisuilaliberté delapresse) on July 29, 1881. The law inherits the provisions of the Declaration of Human Rights and completely denies all previous practices that conflict with press freedom, especially the pre-censorship system. The law also stipulates that judging whether press and publishing activities are legal should be decided by the court rather than the government. France's "Press Freedom Law" also details provisions on post-event penalties, which will punish the media for instigating, defamation, and disrupting public order. However, press freedom stipulated in the Press Freedom Law has long been limited to print media, and radio and television have long been controlled by the state. This situation did not change until the 1980s. After the Socialist Party came to power in 1981, it passed a decree allowing the establishment of private radio stations and giving up the state monopoly on radio and television media. France now enjoys the greatest freedom of the press in history.