Political Crossfire Forums

The Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index ranks the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria that include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural environment in which the media operate.

http://index.rsf.org/#!/presentation

The First Amendment's protection of speech and expression is central to the concept of American political system. But the uncomfortable truth is that here freedom of expression has never come easily and is nearly always threatened in one way or another.

I'd say in terms of individuals rights we are pretty good with free speech. In terms of privacy, press, and whistleblowers, we're definitely getting worse.

they've enabled the expansion of confidential information to the point where it really is harming the freedom of the press. also the consolidation of media outlets is troubling.

so yeah, not as free anymore.

I wonder how many journalists are bought by lobby, like the politicians. Free speech can cause the sale of a basketball team, (if you have one ).

I'm getting somewhat sick of the media. They have demonstrated themselves to be an ever more ineffective and politicized element of society. All they want to do is play gotcha shit with politicians and leaders, and completely ignore the actual JOURNALISM that makes them valuable. Hey NBC lady, I don't want to see you wasting my f**k time trying to trick Obama into saying if he prefers Clinton or Biden during Super Bowl halftime. How about you grab your pencil and pad and go figure out what the Chicago PD has been doing. How about you read the f**k torture memos, the memos saying it's legal to drone strike american citizens, the memos that justify jailing whistle blowers, and tell us something informative about that. God forbid you take up a challenge and do your actual job.

The more the media becomes a joke the less seriously I care about the protections of the "press." Most actual reporters are pompous douches who think their credentials mean they are important or doing something valuable, when most are little better than gossip mongers (and even less effective at their gossip than the charlatans at TMZ). Do your job properly and I have no problem protecting you. But I don't give a shit about outlets that sit with their thumb up their ass parroting whatever is on the news cycle, instead of doing actual journalism. That apparently, is best left to foreign bureaus and bloggers.

ever notice how many in the MSM are related to wealthy or powerful families?