Press freedom being eaten away, says watchdog chief

[Judi Lynn]

Press freedom being eaten away, says watchdog chief

Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Tuesday November 14, 2006
The Guardian

Sir Christopher Meyer, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission who sparked a political furore by lifting the lid on his time as ambassador to Washington, warned last night that freedom of the press was being gradually chipped away by the government. He said the breakdown in communication between the government and newspapers was unhealthy for democracy.

"I believe the boundaries of freedom of expression seem to be closing in a bit on newspapers and magazines in a way which may not be healthy," said Sir Christopher, who has been head of the self-regulatory body for almost four years and survived repeated calls for his resignation last November.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I don't believe in government plotting to curb freedom of expression," he said. "But when you read that after two years, there are proposals to make it more difficult to obtain information under the Freedom of Information Act, you have to worry."

A combination of changes to the law and the way channels of communication between the government and journalists had changed under New Labour had led to it becoming harder for the press to report on those in power, he said.
(snip/...)

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,1947308,00.html

[nicknameless]

1. Et tu, UK?

:(

[w4rma]

2. Blair's BS. Luckily they are kicking him to the curb. (nt)

[nicknameless]

3. It can't happen soon enough.

It's a brand new, beautiful blue world, little poodle.

[The2ndWheel]

4. They're the most watched society in at least

the Western world, if not the globe. They didn't just join in recently.

[nicknameless]

5. Referring to the big brother cameras everywhere?

And their laws against whistleblowers are outrageous.

:(

At least their news seemed to be more on the level than ours.

[The2ndWheel]

6. Yup

I figure as soon as they get the kinks out, we(the US Government we) will line up for it(not that it's not happening already). We got the language from England, we got our empire from England(after the American Revolution and WW1), so why not this as well?

[nicknameless]

7. I'm more optimistic than that.

We veered too close to the edge of the cliff. I feel very strongly that Americans have wised up to the fascists' mind games.

[The2ndWheel]

8. Dif'rent strokes

I don't think it'll happen because of the Bush administration. It'll happen for completely logical reasons. We already attempt to control nature more and more because it makes sense for us, it makes our lives better. It takes chance out of existence. With more and more people, having access to more and more information, the state will require the same. Civilization needs order to function. It was already going on pre-Bush, it'll happen post-Bush, because technological progress won't be slowing down.

I just don't see it as a problem of the edge of the cliff. It's the solid ground that worries me more.

[nicknameless]

10. I don't see that happening. We'll have to agree to disagree then.

:hi:

[Turbineguy]

9. The MSM should welcome that

it would actually give them an excuse for not reporting the news.

[FernBell]

11. k&r