Press Freedom

Reporters Without Borders say that North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Eritrea are the worst places for press freedom. The eye popper for us is the fall of France, the US, and Japan. The issue for the US is apparently the willingness of courts to challenge reporters on confidential sources. For those of us who get a lot of news and commentary off the, for us borderless, WWW this is less an issue than for some but if the papers don't add good content we do have problems.

RK, were you censored? :eek:

I don't quite get how the UK is so far down the list. We're below Germany:

Germany fell to 23rd place after a series of incidents, including admission by the state intelligence service of its illegal surveillance of the media for more than a decade, prosecution of two journalists of the magazine Cicero for “aiding to betray state secrets”, death threats to a cartoonist on the newspaper Tagesspiegel and problems of access to data since passage of a freedom of information act (Informationsfreiheitsgesetz).

I'm not saying this out of misplaced patriotism, I'm just surprised, reading the criteria.

Another test case is before a Federal judge in NY today. At issue is whether or not writers in the WWW have equal standing and protection as do the members of the press.

A federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., is considering whether bloggers are entitled to the same free speech protections given to reporters for newspapers and other media. The case involves leaked documents belonging to the pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly.

Not that that means as much as it once did given the recent sad case having to do with Valerie Plame (outed target), Scooter Libby (perjuring scapegoat), Judith Miller (jailed), Richard Armitage (unindicted outer), Karl Rove (unindicted outer), and President Bush (hypocritical panderer).

I'm not saying this out of misplaced patriotism, I'm just surprised, reading the criteria.

Oh, I don't know. Look how the Government screwed the BBC over that dossier stuff.

Pie;307999 wrote:

RK, were you censored? :eek:

Stop opressing meeeeee!!!

'Elp! 'Elp! I'm bein' repressed!

Griff;307953 wrote:

but if the papers don't add good content we do have problems.

Having been in and near the newspaper industry for over a decade, its only a matter of time before they are pretty much gone. They are fudging their circulation numbers and modifying the definition of what "paid circulation" means. They are trying to diversify into other print media, mostly direct mail products, but their machinery and philosophies are outdated. It's almost like they are still trying to sell horse drawn buggies instead of cars. Their readers median age is very high and as those readers, literally, die off their circulations will plummet further. Also, as the "internet generation" takes over they will, simply put, be extinct. Just my :2cents:

The papers will only survive if there is a need, beyond wrapping the garbage and lining the bird cage. When half the people are getting their news from alternative sources and the other half don't give a damn, beyond possibly headlines, about the news, then the future looks bad. :cool:

Or if they morph into a more palatable medium like the internet - having it actually printed on paper is just - well antiquated

rkzenrage;308211 wrote:

Stop opressing meeeeee!!!

I realized that I was reading this thread from work; the images you had in your original post were blocked by my employer. It made it look like your message was empty. In a manner of speaking, you were censored!

The man is keeping me down.:worried:

But... but... without the newpapers...

...WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE FUNNIES?!

yesman065;309115 wrote:

Having been in and near the newspaper industry for over a decade, its only a matter of time before they are pretty much gone. They are fudging their circulation numbers and modifying the definition of what "paid circulation" means. They are trying to diversify into other print media, mostly direct mail products, but their machinery and philosophies are outdated. It's almost like they are still trying to sell horse drawn buggies instead of cars. Their readers median age is very high and as those readers, literally, die off their circulations will plummet further. Also, as the "internet generation" takes over they will, simply put, be extinct. Just my :2cents:

Not to mention all the reporters being arrested and bullied now to try and have their sources reveled.
Welcome to Amerika.

why do you work for an employer that censors your input? Challenge him... ask him how he is different from China.

It's the duty of every freedom-loving person to challenge totalitarianism and oppressive regimes...

...Except when it'll cost you your job, right?

JayMcGee;309191 wrote:

why do you work for an employer that censors your input? Challenge him... ask him how he is different from China.

I left the actual company I worked for after 12 years because they *cough* Gannett *cough* were trying to force me out for two years. I was told that I "made too much money" for someone in my position. What a freakin joke - I was a commissioned salesman - I only made a percentage on what I sold. Effin' idiots. I took my own sweet ass time too - getting the "right job" for me. Since I've left, the department I used to work for went through 1/2 a dozen new reps tryin to replacew me and 3 overhauls to where the department got absorbed by another. My old boss got demoted to the equivalent of my old job. Ha Ha! Good luck Bob!! :D Fuck them, I gave them all I had and was their top producer, by far, for the last 8 years I was there. I hope the place goes up in flames - figuratively speaking, of course. :eyebrow:

Ibram;309194 wrote:

It's the duty of every freedom-loving person to challenge totalitarianism and oppressive regimes...

...Except when it'll cost you your job, right?

Nope I stuffed it in their face. After leaving they realized what they lost and how big a mistake it was. I now make a lot more than I did there - and I have a nifty title too!

..I don't think either of us were talking to you, I think that was all in reply to Pie.

Ibram;309208 wrote:

..I don't think either of us were talking to you, I think that was all in reply to Pie.

In that case. . . nevermind :smack:

but thanks for letting me get that out. Sorry for the misguided rant.

JayMcGee;309191 wrote:

why do you work for an employer that censors your input? Challenge him... ask him how he is different from China.

:right: Actually, in my line of work, I give up a great many freedoms. 'Nuf said.