Words are powerful. They can make or unmake heroes, build or destroy democracy, promote or smother justice. Which is why journalists who are dedicated to their profession often pay a high price.

There are few other human undertakings which demand an unyielding social responsibility and fierce commitment to truth as journalism. Not surprisingly, in countries where truth is hounded by those threatened by the power of the written word, journalism has become not only an onerous endeavour but also a perilous task.

Today is World Press Freedom Day. However, there is little for us to celebrate.

In many countries, journalists are murdered, assaulted, detained and harassed simply for telling the truth. Newspapers are censored, suspended and closed down for their temerity to express opinions contrary to those of the powers-that-be.

Malaysia is no exception. More recently, publications such as Harakah, Detik and Eksklusif have either been curbed or banned. Much has been said about the assault on press freedom in this country - the litany of restrictive laws, self-censorship in the mainstream media, and gutless journalists who care more for their rice bowl than the lifeblood of their profession.

We need not say more.

Suffice for us to add that in Singapore, the media is so cowed that elder statesman David Marshall referred to journalists in his island state as nothing more than ''boot-lickers" and ''running dogs" of the governing Peoples Action Party. Let there be no fuss made about our reference to the canine species.

But while authoritarian and repressive regimes are an obvious threat to press freedom, commercial interests also impinge on the independence of the media. Indeed, attacks on the press do not only come from the government or goons hired by drug lords and politicians. The threat to press freedom also comes from the men and women in business suits.

On this, journalists have been silent for too long.

Even in countries where there is a measure of press freedom, where democracy flourishes, there still exists a situation where those who write the cheques, write the laws, and those who own the media, ask the questions.

Indeed, the threat to press freedom comes from the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner and Bill Gates - and their equivalent in Malaysia - who own the papers we read, the radios we listen to, the television networks we watch, and now the information superhighway we surf.

This silence among journalists regarding the threat to press freedom from the market is not surprising.

After all, the investors are the employers of the journalists and the providers of advertising revenue. Moreover, most journalists are part of the ruling class, who dream the same dreams as the business elite, echo the same speeches of the powerful and espouse the same contempt for the poor, the powerless, the voiceless.

In our global marketplace today, increasingly the media is not about delivering information to the people but delivering the people to advertisers. Yet globalisation is being sold by the media as a great model for humankind.

And when this doesn't quite work, journalists write apologetic pieces about there being not enough free market, not enough tax breaks, not enough consumption, and that we have no choice.

Yet perhaps the market is a model that works well for a few and not for most people. Perhaps the market can be a great wealth-creating machine but not so great when it comes to building a humane and just society.

Perhaps while we speak out against authoritarian regimes, we should also be concerned about the dictatorship of the market. Perhaps we should express the worry that citizens are being replaced by investors, that the government we elect listens to the movers and shakers of capital, not to us.

Indeed, those who write - the journalists - must ask the questions. That's what press freedom is for, to give power to the powerless and a voice to the voiceless.