Real freedom of the press doesnt exist in the US – Stabroek News

By Ted Rall

NEW YORK The United States ranks 48th among nations for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders (RWB). Since few other countries have the equivalent of the U.S Constitutions First Amendment, learning that it ranks below Botswana and Slovenia may come as a surprise.

Mostly the organisation pins this dismal state of affairs on U.S President Donald Trumps attacks on the news media. They reference the White Houses revocation of CNN reporter Jim Acostas press card, the Presidents fake news and enemy of the people jibes and his tacit approval of the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government.

At least one White House correspondent has hired private security for fear of their life after receiving death threats, and newsrooms throughout the country have been plagued by bomb threats and were the recipients of other potentially dangerous packages, prompting journalism organisations to reconsider the security of their staffs in a uniquely hostile environment, reports RWB.

Like most other mainstream analyses of the state of press, RWB focuses on how easy it is for large, corporate-owned media conglomerates with establishmentarian political orientations to do their jobs. Independent journalists, especially those whose politics are left of the Democrats or right of the Republicans, have much bigger problems than deep-pocketed mega-conglomerates like CNN.

No consideration of freedom of the press in the U.S is complete without a hard look at the case of Julian Assange. The founder and publisher of WikiLeaks is rotting in an English prison, awaiting extradition to the U.S for possession and dissemination of classified information exactly what The New York Times did when it published the Pentagon Papers and the Edward Snowden revelations. He is being treated worse than a murderer, he is isolated, medicated, says journalist John Pilger, who recently visited him. Incredibly, corporate media is siding with the Trump administration, not merely ignoring Assange but mocking him and accusing him of treason (which is impossible, since hes not American).

Censorship is insidious; readers and viewers cant know what theyre not told. Almost as sinister as the persecution of Assange is the wholesale erasure of left-wing politics from U.S news media. Forty three per cent of Americans tell pollsters they want the U.S. to become a socialist country. Thirty six per cent of registered Democrats currently support self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, whose campaign promises closely align to Sanders.

The nations 1,000-plus newspapers employ countless Democrats and Republicans. But there isnt a single staff columnist or editorial cartoonist who agrees with 43 per cent of the public that socialism would be better than capitalism. There isnt a single one who says he or she supports Sanders or Warren. Watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and the other cable news outlets. Once in a great while you might catch a token leftist joining a discussion. Youll never see socialist get a gig as a regular contributor, much less be asked to host a show. If you dont think its weird that 43 per cent of the countrys population is being censored, I dont know what to tell you.

Pervasive among both corporate and independent journalists is self-censorship. Apologists say that freedom of the press doesnt include the right to published, and thats true. Because journalists are like everyone else and cant survive without earning money, however, the real-world practical effect of having to earn a living is that reporters and pundits have to watch what they say lest they become unemployable pariahs like I was after 9/11. Sorry, man, an editor I considered a friend told me after I asked him for work at his magazine, youre radioactive.

The Post and other corporate news companies ridiculed Sanders recent assertion that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ownership of the Post influences its coverage. As Sanders noted, its not like Bezos calls Post editors to tell them what to print and what to censor.

Self-censorship is subtle. Post executive editor Marty Baron is technically correct when he retorts that Jeff Bezos allows our newsroom to operate with full independence. But hes dodging the meat of the matter. Baron and other Post editors know who their bosses are: Bezos and, more generally, his allies in the corporate ruling class.

No matter how much they protest that they can follow any lead and print anything they want, that knowledge of who butters their bread informs every move they make. Its why, when the editorial page editor sorts through the days nationally syndicated political cartoons, he never ever publishes one from a left-wing political orientation, no matter how well-written or well-drawn it is. Its why, when theyre hiring new staffers, they never hire a leftie. Theyre smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds them. Its also why the person making that hiring decision is not himself or herself one of the 43 per cent.

Im more audacious. Yet I too know not to go too far. Ive learned that I can draw a cartoon or write a column criticizing free trade agreements without fear of getting fired or assassinated. There is also no fear that it will be published by a corporate newspaper so why bother? Over the long run, I have to give editors material they want to publish; if I send out too much stuff about a verboten topic like free trade Ill lose clients.

Most people who hear about my defamation lawsuit against the Los Angeles Times support me. But most people dont hear about it for a simple reason: When one member of the press is besieged especially when its justified the others circle the wagons.

Reporters for The Washington Post, The New York Times and fake-left outfits like The Intercept contacted me eager to write about how the LAPD pension fund bought the Los Angeles Times in 2014 and then ordered the paper to fire me because I criticized the police in my cartoons. (Its still legal for the cops to buy a newspaper). Invariably they went silent after talking to their editors.

Corporate gangsters stick together.

As I said, Im not that brave. My editor didnt tell me about the LAPD deal with the Times. I assume she didnt know. If she had called and said Hey, lay off the police, they own us now, draw about something else, I would have. I have to make a living.

Only 48th? When it comes to press freedom, the U.S. is benefiting from grade inflation.

Reprinted from the Japan Times

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Real freedom of the press doesnt exist in the US - Stabroek News