Hua Sheng

China Daily

Publication Date : 15-11-2014

The United States has prided itself on freedom of expression (or freedom of the press), but several signs show that the American administration and the corporate-owned US media have compromised this freedom.

One such indication is the growing public distrust in the US media. About 60 per cent of the respondents to a Gallup poll on Americans' trust in the media to report "the news fully, accurately and fairly" in September said they either did "not (have) very much" trust or no trust "at all" in the media.

Most of the mainstream US media outlets, which are now controlled by big corporations, have been criticised for not reporting news events such as the Occupy Wall Street movement across major US cities three years ago, largely because it was directed against Wall Street and corporate America.

Major US news organisations have also collaborated with the US government to hide vital information from the public. In 2011, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Associated Press intentionally lied about the identity of Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Allen Davis, who was accused of murder in Pakistan, at the request of the US administration. They admitted their double standards only after the UK-based The Guardian exposed their lie.

Every year, Project Censored, based at Sonoma State University in California, publishes a book on the news stories omitted or censored, often by major US news organisations. The list is huge.

While news organisations have increasingly compromised their principles, the US administration has increased its intervention in their day-to-day functioning despite the First Amendment of the US Constitution stating that freedom of the press should be protected.

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Whither freedom of the American press