Warning of “a new era of propaganda,” a press freedom group says that transparency is on the decline worldwide. And in the United States the group says President Barack Obama is intensifying his war on whistleblowers.
That explains why the nation, which is one of few to guarantee press freedom in a founding document, ranks all the way down at 41 this year on Reporters Without Borders’ annual review of press freedom in 180 countries.
The press freedom organization reported that governments throughout the world are going out of their way to develop “a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism” and leveraging new technology to provide government messages directly to populations without the interference of dirt-digging reporters.
“We are entering a new era of propaganda where new technologies allow the low-cost dissemination of their own communication, their information, as dictated. On the other side, journalists are the ones who get in the way,” the organization said.
In the United States, the group said that press freedom is further damaged by the “most transparent” Obama administration’s hatred of whistleblowers.
“The main cause for concern … continues to be the current administration’s obsessive control of information, which manifests itself through the war on whistleblowers and journalists’ sources, as well as the lack of government transparency, which reporters have continually criticized,” the group said.
To underscore just how badly the 1st Amendment has been abused over the past seven years, the group noted that Obama “has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined.”
The group said U.S. press freedom could be improved if Congress were to pass a federal “shield law” making it impossible for government investigators to force reporters to hand over information on whistleblowers and other sources based on shaky national security claims.
Unfortunately, the group said that negative rhetoric about the press and onerous restrictions on reporters attending events on the campaign trail leave little hope that transparency will improve under the next president.
“Since the primaries began last summer, journalists have seen their access to campaign events regularly restricted by candidates from both political parties and have been insulted and even bullied on social media,” the organization said.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s fraught relationship with the news media has certainly been no secret. Granted, the media isn’t always friendly to Trump— but recent statements about his plans to make it easier to sue reporters could have worrying implications for press freedom if he’s elected.
On the other side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is notorious for abusing members of the news media. At a recent event, Clinton ordered loudspeakers producing white noise aimed at reporters trying to cover her remarks. And on multiple occasions, Clinton has ordered her goons to physically coral reporters covering her campaign.
For many conservatives who have grown frustrated with mainstream news media over the past several years because of ongoing corporatization and a glaring tendency toward liberalism among J-school graduates, press freedom is understandably not a top priority.
But before taking the Trump/Clinton/Obama view that all reporters are scum, it’s important to look at the bigger picture.
The 1st Amendment is pretty straightforward: “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.”
Read carefully and you realize that when we’re talking about press freedom, the mainstream media is truly our most trifling concern.
When president Obama abuses whistleblowers, Clinton corrals information-gatherers or Trump promises to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue media outlets, what they’re really doing is suggesting that only “approved” messages should make it to the masses.
And the mainstream media couldn’t really care less. First, because they always get called with the “approved” messages first and they have a way of making it look like news. Second, because hard-hitting news is pretty boring stuff to the masses.
The big players learned long ago that in the absence of thought provoking reporting, people who like well-toned legs will continue watching Fox, morons will still tune in to MSNBC every night for race lectures and sexism soliloquies and CNN can maintain its audience of four with wall-to-wall coverage of last week’s news. It’s also worth noting that anyone who believes “objective journalism” is a thing that has ever existed was a victim of MSM propaganda long before political spin in the news became so apparent.
But those of us who are quietly hobbling together our worldviews based on information gathered from hundreds of blogs, newsletters, zines, small media outlets and firsthand accounts from citizen journalists and activist have far more to lose to powerful folks with contempt for press freedom.
In this age of unbridled technology, it’s easier than ever for a single person or a small alternative media outlet not unlike this one to reach a vast audience with information unwashed by government and corporate gatekeepers. In other words, we all now require press protection depending on our level of free speech activity online and elsewhere.
That’s a good thing— and it’s also the reason the 1st Amendment came first.
More than 240 years ago, the technology of the day was helping the same kind of individuals and small groups disseminate messages that would foment a revolution and forever change the course of history. The process was far more tedious and the voices fewer than today. Even so, the nation’s founders came to understand the power of information not vetted by government force and official outlets. They perhaps even envisioned the technological advances that would hit the scene long after their expiration, increasing time for reflection and making it easier to spread the ideas begot from that reflection.
At the end of a short letter to Thomas Jefferson, circa 1817, John Adams wrote:
I cannot contemplate human affairs, without laughing or crying. I choose to laugh. When People talk of the Freedom of Writing Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist, But it must be hundreds of years after you and I Shall write and Speak no more.
Welcome to the future. Don’t let talking points about national security or disdain for corporate controlled media lead you to apathy in matters of press freedom. With a little thought and an internet connection, you can be the press. Even better, with a little savvy there’s nothing standing in the way of you taking your ideas to a massive audience.
If you have the time and the enthusiasm, start today with a free blog, a YouTube channel or even just a social media account dedicated to informing others. If you reach just one person, you will have succeeded. But if your information is good, it’s a safe wager that you’ll be surprised at how quickly your audience can grow. And thanks to the 1st Amendment, nothing you say can land you in hot water (for now) if for have the common sense not to say anything threatening, harassing or knowingly false.
If you do get rolling on such a project, I’d really enjoy getting a link to one of your video commentaries, blog posts or social media account. Send it to newstips@personalliberty.com with the subject “Active Liberty.” If your submission meets our editorial standards, I’ll pass the link along to your fellow Personal Liberty® readers in an effort to help you grow your audience. All in the name of reminding everyone that press freedom is an issue that affects us all.
The post As press freedom declines, we really need your help appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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