4 and the exercise of the former does not condition exercise of the latter.3 Whereas freedom of expression is an individual, basic and fundamental right, freedom of the press is an accessory right of the media companies and a way of implementing freedom of expression. This distinction reveals the fact that freedom of the press does not include the right to communicate by any means, which is a right of everyone, individually. 20. The right to freedom of expression tends not only towards the personal fulfillment of those who expresses themselves, but also towards the consolidation of truly democratic societies. Thus, the public debate must satisfy the legitimate needs of everyone, not just as consumers of certain information, but also as citizens. In other words, freedom of the press must exist in order to comply with the basic pillars of freedom of expression, and the State must guarantee this reality.4 21. Freedom of expression has a triple function in a democracy.5 First, it is an individual right that guarantees one of the most important human freedoms which is the right to think for oneself and to share these thought with others. Thus, it consists in one of the individual rights that most clearly reflects the virtue that marks – and characterizes - human beings: the capacity to think about the world from our own perspective and communicate with one another in order to construct, through a deliberative process, not only the model of life that each person has the right to adopt, but the model of society in which we want to live.6 22. Second, both the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) and this Court have expressed similar consistent legal opinions that stress the structural relationship between freedom of expression and democracy. According to the IACHR, the purpose of Article 13 of the American Convention is to strengthen the operation of deliberative and pluralistic democratic systems through the protection and promotion of the free circulation of information, ideas and expressions of all kinds.7 Article 4 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, in turn, characterizes freedom of expression and freedom of the press as “essential components of the exercise of democracy.” Similarly, the freedom of expression rapporteurs of the United Nations (UN), the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organization of American States (OAS) recalled in their first Joint Declaration of 1999 that “freedom of expression is a fundamental international human right and a basic component of civil society based on democratic principles.”8 23. In its third function in the democratic system, “freedom of expression is a key instrument for the exercise of all other fundamental rights. Indeed, it is an essential mechanism for the exercise of the rights to participation, religious freedom, education, ethnic or cultural identity Special Rapporteurship for freedom of expression (Inter-American Commission for Human Rights). InterAmerican Legal Framework regarding the right to freedom of expression, OEA/Ser.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.2/09, Washington D.C., 2009, para. 12. 3 Special Rapporteurship for freedom of expression (Inter-American Commission for Human Rights). InterAmerican Legal Framework regarding the right to freedom of expression, OEA/Ser.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.2/09, Washington D.C., 2009, para. 8. 4 Special Rapporteurship for freedom of expression (Inter-American Commission for Human Rights). InterAmerican Legal Framework regarding the right to freedom of expression, OEA/Ser.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.2/09, Washington D.C., 2009, para. 6. 5 Special Rapporteurship for freedom of expression (Inter-American Commission for Human Rights). InterAmerican Legal Framework regarding the right to freedom of expression, OEA/Ser.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.2/09, Washington D.C., 2009, para. 7. 6 Special Rapporteurship for freedom of expression (Inter-American Commission for Human Rights). InterAmerican Legal Framework regarding the right to freedom of expression, OEA/Ser.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.2/09, Washington D.C., 2009, para. 8. 7 The complete text of the joint declaration can be found showarticle.asp?artID=141&lID=2, consulted on 03/09/2015. 8 at: http://www.oas.org/es/IACHR/expresion/