The World - News from Dec. 24, 1986

An international press group deplored what it called a trend toward the licensing of journalists, a practice it described as a subtle form of oppression of the news media. The London-based International Press Institute, which includes 2,000 editors and publishers worldwide, said in its 1986 review that Costa Rica, Spain and Haiti license journalists in one form or another. “The result of such a system is a restricted number of people who can practice freedom of expression, a right which cannot be extended to just a privileged few,” the institute said.