US ranks 17th, behind Slovenia on press freedom

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

from Molly Ivins column , early FEB ...............

PLEASE READ THE LAST SNIP IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE!


Here's the link and two snips

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/columnists/molly_ivins/5088473.htm

<snip>
Edward Monks, a lawyer in Eugene, Ore., did a report for the newspaper there last year on the prevalence of right-wing hosts on radio talk shows.

"The spectrum of opinion on national political commercial talk radio shows ranges from extreme right wing to very extreme right wing -- there is virtually nothing else," he said, noting the irony that many of these right-wing hosts spend much of their time complaining about "the liberal media."
On the two Eugene talk stations, Monks found: "There are 80 hours per week, more than 4,000 hours per year, programmed for Republican and conservative talk shows, without a single second programmed for a Democratic or liberal perspective. … Political opinions expressed on talk radio are approaching the level of uniformity that would normally be achieved only in a totalitarian society. There is nothing fair, balanced or democratic about it."

To point out the obvious, broadcasters and their national advertisers have a clear stake in promoting the views of those who advocate lower taxes on the rich and on big corporations. What is so perfectly loony about the FCC's proposal to unleash yet another round of media concentration is that it is being done in the name of "the free market."

<snip>
The United States now ranks 17th, below Costa Rica and Slovenia, on the worldwide index of press freedom established by the group Reporters Without Borders.

[IranianDemocrat]

1. lol Iran is probably last.

.

[ronzo]

2. God bless Molly! n/t

[Flying_Pig]

3. Proof that our democracy is nearly dead....

Democracy cannot survive without a free and uncontrolled media. We now live in a fascist country, period. Face it, then change it.

[alexwcovington]

4. The full list is here

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=4116&var_recherche=index+of+press+freedom

Iran is #122, tied with Zimbabwe, just worse than Russia, and just better than Belarus.

Last place is North Korea, #139, and China is next up.

[friendofbenn]

8. very interesting

its the social democracies that have the most press freedom i seem to notice ;)

[aneerkoinos]

10. WTF? Finland first???

We have one national Finnish language (and pretty conservative) daily newspaper. Well maybe thats not a big deal.

The big deal is that the independent anarchistic TV-station went bankrupt. WHERE'S MY FREE DAILY LATE NIGHT HARD CORE PORN!!!

[goforit]

5. LOL!!!!...........Eat your heart out Murdoch!!!

What a schmuck!!!

[leftofthedial]

6. A. Thank <insert your preference here> Molly is still free to write

she's the best.

B. We haven't had a free press since Reagan turned the CIA-Cold War disinformation machine loose on us domestically. It's all psy ops now, not journalism.

That and campaign finance are the two linchpins of the neocon death grip on democracy.

[Blue-Jay]

7. Take THAT, Nigeria!

:D

[eagler]

9. Israel is 92nd

nt

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.