Importance of a Free Press

[Kerbie]

How timely... C-SPAN is featuring this ranking in the first hour of their news call-in show, "Washington Journal," this morning. This segment will run from 7-8 am EDT, but can be heard anytime at their website after the show finishes at 10:00.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?444632...-04262018&live

[Basalt Beach]

Originally Posted by flaggerphil

IMHO, you cannot have a free and democratic society without freedom of the press. Having been around the world quite a bit in my 67 years, I firmly believe that.

Well said, having traveled and worked for times overseas, I completely agree. I spent some time reading their survey and reviewing the survey methodology which we can debate, challenge, discuss till the cows come home. IMO, criticism of the press is abundant, however, the citizens of any country have a responsibility to hold all institutions accountable. If you are looking for, or expecting perfection, you should look elsewhere. Perhaps, you should pick up your guitar and keep practicing till you get there, at least that's my plan today.

[RedJoker]

The US ranking doesn't actually surprise me. I can't think of a single person that doesn't have a preferred news outlet that they think is 'correct' while the others are 'fake.' Doesn't matter where in the political spectrum you are.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

The US ranking doesn't actually surprise me. I can't think of a single person that doesn't have a preferred news outlet that they think is 'correct' while the others are 'fake.' Doesn't matter where in the political spectrum you are.

Yes the freedom of press while necessary, can be a two edged sword . The freedom of access to information goes hand and hand with freedom to disseminate cherry picked, out of context, agenda riddled hype.
Which would not necessarily be a problem if it were not for the tendency for many, even the educated, to fall prey to one other fear based human trait .

As Simon and Garfunkel so aptly put it :

" I have squandered my resistance
For a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jests
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"

Funny how the truth can be timeless

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I'm disheartened that the wealthy that own the news organizations elect to sell it as entertainment. And that it works.

That one stuck me because we're not a TV family and mostly read a few known good papers and journals staying away from opinion sections. When I travel or at times in a break room or pub I'll catch TV as so many watch it - wow.

The popular TV presentation is far more emotive and they're almost always having guests and video that to me sparks emotion more than analysis and digest when I just read text.

A step more crazy is some treat my daily digest of news from the Wall St. Journal and NY Times as I'm the one being manipulated. Remember. I said I read news more than opinion. Then I see the social media feeds from these people, or conversation reveals they're news is in reality listening to pundits or some shows known for a lack of truth. I've followed the sources of some of the stuff they link in social media and find it's the fake news in the news. The scary bit is at scale I see people I know who are acting on garbage and not taking time to sort out any truth or sources.

I totally agree on the importance of free press. Even when some well known papers are wrong they have their sections showing corrections. When I follow the adulterated news product some associates consume I never see that.

It's no longer a new book but for this topic I always suggest Master Switch by Tim Wu. Gregg Easterbrook's new book is another good one.

[HodgdonExtreme]

A free press seems a natural extension of freedom of speech, which is probably why Madison included both together in 1A.

You're free to say or print whatever you like, and should be held accountable for same, in courts of law as well as the court of public opinion.

[mattbn73]

Very interesting. Thanks. How it's derived: https://rsf.org/en/world-press-freedom-index

[HodgdonExtreme]

Originally Posted by mattbn73

Very interesting. Thanks. How it's derived: https://rsf.org/en/world-press-freedom-index

Thanks for posting!

I find this troubling:

Originally Posted by RSF

The degree of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries is determined by pooling the responses of experts to a questionnaire devised by RSF.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by HodgdonExtreme

I find this troubling:

I'm wondering why? Here's the questionnaire. https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/rsf_survey_en.pdf

And the context:

THE QUESTIONNAIRE
To compile the Index, RSF has developed an online questionnaire focusing on the subjects specified above. This year’s questionnaire was slightly less detailed that in the past but, thanks to statistical analysis, the data gathered continued to permit comparison with previous years.

Translated into 20 languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Indonesian and Korean, the questionnaire is sent to journalists, media lawyers, researchers and other media specialists selected by RSF in the 180 countries covered by the Index. Each country is assigned a score based on the answers provided by these experts and on the figures for acts of violence and abuses against journalists during the previous year.

[mattbn73]

The low ranking of the US on this poll resonates with me personally as a US citizen. The media here feels broken. Everything is politicized. Stories which don't fit in nicely to Republican/Democrat dichotomy seem to never get traction.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

When the idea of the free press was hatched in the U.S. constitution it was largely in consideration of guerilla publications that were printed in basements, their publishers physically on the run from the British Army, their contents no more than incendiary opinion screeds meant to stir support for the revolution.

The founders had a full view of history, and the examples of press and its restriction thereof were certainly not limited to colonial publications. They understood it to be absolutely core to freedom of thought, expression, and a weapon against tyranny based on an extremely informed view of Western Civilization.

It seems to me that we've come full circle.

No idea what that means, but I can't imagine a country where this freedom is abridged in any way. Transparency and freedom of information make for a resilient society.

I'm far more concerned with those seeking to paint the press as liars because facts interfere with their goals or ideology than I am about the unfortunately rampant yellow journalism that existed then and now.

[Fogducker]

"The free press/media" is shocked at the way they are perceived by the various audiences.

I think of the close up TV shots of the woman's parents as they watch their daughter aboard the Challenger shuttle die before their faces, the questions of the survivors of a fatal accident getting a mike jammed in their face "What do you think about your family being destroyed?" The shouted "gotcha questions" at press conferences------Oh yeah, that is great "journalism"!

C-Span seems to be the most fair on the air source along with the Wall Street Journal (That veers off once in awhile too) for printed matter,-- but that's just me.

Fog

[HodgdonExtreme]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

I'm wondering why? Here's the questionnaire. https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/rsf_survey_en.pdf

And the context:

The key reason I find it troubling is RSF chooses the questions, and the "experts" that get to answer them.

Who said that thing about the only thing mattering is who counts the votes? Stalin, I think...

Except in this example, RSF gets to choose whats on the ballot, who gets to vote, and which votes count.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by mattbn73

The low ranking of the US on this poll resonates with me personally as a US citizen. The media here feels broken. Everything is politicized. Stories which don't fit in nicely to Republican/Democrat dichotomy seem to never get traction.

I'll agree that popular media has a lot to be desired but argue it's not completely broken.

I work at my WSJ and NYT accounts daily skipping opinion pages and when possible taking them in via reader mode - just the text. I see both papers considered conservative and liberal reporting news and doing a good job of it. I catch all sorts of news that's very important and neither Republican or Democrat.

Maybe what's broken is people being lazy. It's different to peck at getting through the reading than sitting in front of the TV. Honestly, the good news consumption is a bit like my discipline with eating and exercise where I think the real problem is a whole lot of people don't make an effort or have discipline. There I go again - fat shaming.

[mattbn73]

Originally Posted by imwjl

I'll agree that popular media has a lot to be desired but argue it's not completely broken.

I work at my WSJ and NYT accounts daily skipping opinion pages and when possible taking them in via reader mode - just the text. I see both papers considered conservative and liberal reporting news and doing a good job of it. I catch all sorts of news that's very important and neither Republican or Democrat.

Maybe what's broken is people being lazy. It's different to peck at getting through the reading than sitting in front of the TV. Honestly, the good news consumption is a bit like my discipline with eating and exercise where I think the real problem is a whole lot of people don't make an effort or have discipline. There I go again - fat shaming.

What do you make of the placement of the U.S. in the rankings?