Freedom of Speech!

joey: 9th Mar 2006 - 02:40 GMT

the same word is written all over our newspaper machines as well. there are more lies in the american media these days than anywhere in the world.

jack: 9th Mar 2006 - 16:49 GMT

thats true. i cant stand it. i hate lies. all politicians and newspaper people lie to get you to do what they want or make you believe what they want you to believe. something like when we meet new people or like what we said to our spouses when we were dating or that thing you bought that cost too much and what you said to your spouse to make them think you did it for them.

S: 10th Mar 2006 - 21:24 GMT

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you both

Joey, you claim that there's more lies in the American media than anywhere else in the world. I'm just curious to know how you came to that conclusion?. If we had a scale of 1 to 10 that could measure "lies" in the media, I assume by your statement that the American media would be at the top. Where on the scale would you place the media from places such as Iraq and afghanistan? The general public from those sorts of places rarely hear the "truth".

Jack, I think it's unfair to paint "all" politicans with the same brush. I don't disagree that liars exist in all levels of government, but to say that they are "all liars" is like saying that "all" automotive mechanics are crooks. I usually like to give them the benefit of the doubt.

grange: 12th Mar 2006 - 00:22 GMT

S . I watched your media during the "war" and then switched to bbc .Balanced isnt a word i would use . To compare irag and afganistain to industrail nations is like comparing apples to horse shoes . You can try to fit a horse shoe on a apple but all ya get is apple sauce .
When Cnn is all consumed with the bottom line , guess what sensesation sells , not truth .
As to lies ,,, take at look at Bush buddy ,,, that guy wouldn't know the truth if it fell out of the sky and landed on his face and wiggled,

Elicar: 12th Mar 2006 - 01:13 GMT

Your First Amendment gives you the right to express your feelings, opinions, views, etc., Jack. Afterall, everything is all about perceptions. That's the beauty of free speech. You can say whatever you want, so long, as you are not maligning or threatening a specific person or organization. Use it while you still have it. You never know, it could be gone tomorrow!

EvilGentleman: 12th Mar 2006 - 03:42 GMT

We all know that lies are the fabric upon which all governments are founded. It matters not whether the nation is a democracy or non-democracy, capitalist, socialist, communist, fascist, agrarian, theocracy or dictatorship. The one fundamental truth is the lack of truth. But at least we are all equal in this respect. I can lie as well as the rest of them, should I wish to do so. (or have I already done so? Truthfulness is in the ears of the listener, not on the lips of the speaker. Reality is relative.)

grange: 12th Mar 2006 - 12:34 GMT

Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose .( janis Joplyn)
It takes two to speak the truth , one to speak, one to listen( Henry David Thoreau)
Man is by nature a political animal ( Aristotle)
Happiness is not an idea of reason ,but of imagination!(Immanual Kent )
All truths , but in moderation .
My fave . How smart you are depends on where your standing at the time ( D ,Granger)

Micah: 19th Mar 2006 - 03:08 GMT

The US is ranked 44th in the world for press freedom. #1 is a 7-way tie between Finland, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland. Canada is 21st (tied with Lithuania).

Micah: 19th Mar 2006 - 03:09 GMT

oops tried to post a link but it didn't seem to work. If you really want to see it you'll have to copy-paste this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders

(Ed. - enclose a url with double square brackets to make it hotlink)

Elicar: 19th Mar 2006 - 08:01 GMT

Interesting ranking: 7 countries tied for rank 1, yet the next rank is 8, not 2. The ranking is based on the number of countries, rather than the results of their methodology. It did not consider the ties.

If the ties were considered, Canada is # 8 and the US would be #25.

Although it did note that the results were subjective because it is based perceptions, I wonder if the population was factored in the calculation of results. If it did not, the US did well as compared to two other populous countries, India and China.

jeeff: 19th Mar 2006 - 08:44 GMT

i don't think the size of a country's population would affect the ease of maintaining a free press too much.

Elicar: 19th Mar 2006 - 13:55 GMT

I could agree with you Jeeff, but because of the subjectivity of the methodology used in the ranking, it has a major impact on the result.

"The survey asks questions about direct attacks on journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press."

The more people to rile, up the more attactks! The more special interests, the more indirect pressures.