Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -First Amendment | The US is a nation that promotes and values the importance of freedom of speech. I believe that most Americans, even if they can't quote the First Amendment, know that it is what protects our freedom of speech. Therefor, I was surprised to find that we weren't ranked higher on the |
Freedom Press Index for press freedom. "If not number 1, we'll at least be in the top 10." I thought. In reality, we haven't ranked in the top ten of the international ranking of freedom of press in at least 10 years. Here is a rudimentary graph I made of the United State's ranking and score on the Freedom Press Index since 2002 with data from Reporters Without Borders.
Some of the reasons for the US's current fall in ranking include: the extension of the patriot act, the arrest of several media personnel/ journalists covering the 2011 Occupy Wallstreet movement, and the persecution of "whistleblowers."
Also, there is no "shield law" to protect sources on the federal level, which plays a large part in the safety and reliability of journalism.
Lastly, the existence of mass electronic surveillance programs have raised questions about the US government's respect for privacy rights, which affects freedom of speech in a number of ways.
Also, there is no "shield law" to protect sources on the federal level, which plays a large part in the safety and reliability of journalism.
Lastly, the existence of mass electronic surveillance programs have raised questions about the US government's respect for privacy rights, which affects freedom of speech in a number of ways.
"Finally, frequent obstruction of freedom of information was reported during the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in late 2011. More than 80 journalists, bloggers and ordinary social network activists were the victims of police violence during the protests. Several journalists were also arrested and, in some cases, charged with unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct or lack of press credentials"
-Reporters Without Borders
-Reporters Without Borders
"You're being Watched"
Disclaimer: The whole point of the freedom index scale is not the score, but the relativity.
In the grand scheme of things, Americans do have free speech. Journalists do have opportunities to get the message heard.
This video about Venezuela keeps popping into my FB stream the last few days.
My topic is supposed to be about America, but this was the perfect video to give me perspective while writing this blog.
In Venezuela, unarmed students are being murdered for peacefully protesting. More importantly, the government is doing its best to make sure that this information does not get out.
There is no freedom of press- the government has complete control over all media. Newspapers, television broadcasting, the internet.... Even twitter has been shut down. In countries where the government obstructs the public sphere, journalists and reporters usually turn to internationally based media sources. So the Venezuelan government blocked the only international (Colombian) tv channel that is reporting on these issues. This relates back to some of the readings in class. Can the government really influence the freedom of speech? Or in this day and age, where the world is made smaller and smaller by the internet and other forms of communication, is there always a modicum of free speech? I'd say Venezuela has none and we have plenty.
In the grand scheme of things, Americans do have free speech. Journalists do have opportunities to get the message heard.
This video about Venezuela keeps popping into my FB stream the last few days.
My topic is supposed to be about America, but this was the perfect video to give me perspective while writing this blog.
In Venezuela, unarmed students are being murdered for peacefully protesting. More importantly, the government is doing its best to make sure that this information does not get out.
There is no freedom of press- the government has complete control over all media. Newspapers, television broadcasting, the internet.... Even twitter has been shut down. In countries where the government obstructs the public sphere, journalists and reporters usually turn to internationally based media sources. So the Venezuelan government blocked the only international (Colombian) tv channel that is reporting on these issues. This relates back to some of the readings in class. Can the government really influence the freedom of speech? Or in this day and age, where the world is made smaller and smaller by the internet and other forms of communication, is there always a modicum of free speech? I'd say Venezuela has none and we have plenty.