TimmiT said:
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Quote: Do you have a basis for this opinion? Are you familiar with the press freedom in those 19 countries ranked above the US? It sounds quite vainglorious when you make claims like that.
Why does it sound vainglorious? Please back up your incredulity with an argument or something of a specific objection. I find it a tad ironic that you accuse others of hubris and arrogance when you yourself are the only one thus far whos publically presumed ignorance of others. How's that work?
I think my presumption of ignorance is well justified. I reject your claim of knowing the level of press freedom in those 19 countries to an extent that would allow you to make an accurate comparison between them and the US.
I don't think you've understood my response. I denied your baseless, so far as has been demonstrated, claim and asked what it was based on and what the relevance of it was. You've responded by making another bare decleration.
This is a fallacy and is not helpful.
a) What relevance do your accusations have? What difference does it make if I'm ignorant or not? We are discussing a particular issue, and that issue has nothing to do with my level of learning o r compotence to render opinions. b) What do you base your claims of ignorance upon? c) As asked repeatedly and ignored completely, what do you base your incredulity at the US's hosting of the press freedom day or the claims that it is amongst the best country's in the world when it comes to such freedoms as the press and expression and other US-Const. first amendment rights?
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Quote: Please justify your claim that there is an "air of superiority" evinced by my post. Once more, you've made a sweeping claim in opposition to my statements and failed to state with particularity that which you ogject to and why.
I wasn't making a claim, rather I stated a generalised opinion on posting trends in the political forum. That statement was not in reference to you nor any poster in particular, hence I wrote 'some American posters'. Perhaps it's an unfair generalisation but it is my own observation... so the point is moot. If you read that statement in context you would realise that it related to making vainglorious claims.
Why is the point moot because it is your own observation? I've never understood this presumption that someone's opinion or belief is deserving of defrence. If your going to make claims about the nature of many of the posters on this board, you should back them up or recant them if you're unable to.
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Quote: > I was under the impression that everyone realized that Fox selectively airs articles to suit their own agenda. As do all the media outlets in America. They have freedom to report as they wish.
This has an impact on the press freedom ranking (according to the Reporters without Borders survey) under the self-censorship category.
Please back this up. This seems bizzare on its face, and I'd love to see how this conclusion is reached and if this is actually true
Read Seuss' link, in particular the section on self-censorship (which I explicitly referred to in my post).
I do not know what your referring to. Please state with particularity what your argument is and what you rely upon. Asking me to fish out your argument for you when I disagree with it is unhelpful. If I could identify your position and be pursuaded by it I would not be challenging it.
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Quote: Biased media outlets selectively reporting to suit their social/political agendas means that their journalists don't have the freedom to report as they wish
How does your conclusion follow from your premise? You've simply stated one thing and thenn stated another, with no demonstration of the connection. That all news outlets and newscasters must by definition be selective on what they broadcast, and that some of the selection is made to affect social/political desires, does not denote any resultant lack of freedom of journalists.
Perhaps if you read the entire paragraph, rather than dissecting in into individual sentences, you would understand my point as it relates to self-censorship. I never claimed that "all news outlets and newscasters must by definition be selective", however I did claim that biased media outlets reduce the freedom of their journalists.
What I may or may not do is irrelevant. The fact is you've made some claim, I've challenged it, and its your burden to defend what you've claimed to be the truth. My fitness in digesting information is irrelevant.
I don't know to what end you've denied the claim that all media sources must self-select their content, as I did not allege your agreement with this.
Quote: A journalist working for a biased organisation (with a social/political motive) is limited to content that supports that organisation's views/values.
Again, what does this have to do with your claims and how do you justify them? Further, you've not explained how employment by an entity that is biased entails a greater restriction on the range of acceptable discourse than employment by an entity that is not. Finally, you've not shown how the media outlet's enforced scope of coverage is a restriction on the right of the press and of expression- of the public or of the journalist.
Your claims is unstated but appears to be that there is some right by a journalist to report what they want, yet you've not shown how this is limited- only claiming the media entity will not pay for what they do not want. In the end, it seems you are claiming a journalist has the right to employment or the right to report what they want despite their employer's wishes. You've failed to even claim this nor support it, however, so even this bizzare claim is unable to be discussed.
Just what are you claiming and how do you conect that with your claims and the diminuation of press freedom?
Quote: Are you trying to argue that self-censorship encourages press freedom?
No, if I was trying to argue that I would have stated it.
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Quote: For a journalist to have freedom and integrity they need impartiality
Neat. Please back up this claim as well. I see no reason you need to be impartial to be free. Even if I knew how to tell if a newscaster was impartial, I certainly couldn't see how that fact would make them more or less free
Again, read this sentence in context. This claim was in relation to self-censoring of media organisation... see above discussion. However, I may have worded it wrong. It was regarding the the impartiality of the journalist's organisation, not of the journalist. A biased journalist may produce worthless news, but is no less free.
? So what is an impartial organization and how would you identify one? So far as I can see this is largely a worthless concept.
Like Zappa, I am perplexed how you represent the production of an entitites favored content with a lack of freedom in the press. It seems percisely the opposite should be the conclusion- that they are able to produce what they wish is the very criteria on which a free press is judged.
In any case, the question I've asked about how you identify this alleged impartial organization or media source seems particularly relevant. I doubt it exists or is at all useful as a concept, but for you to be making these particular claims it would seem you must be able to distinguish between that which is 'right' and 'wrong' when it comes to reporting- an idea which should be repugnant to the concept of a free press or expression. How do you determine whether the organization or media outlet which is restraining its coverage and methods to its whims is doing so in a biased or unbiased way? You've alleged these are mechanisms of the biased, but failed to demonstrate how any organization may exist which has an infinite scope of coverage- how any organization could not be self-limiting in its topics of coverage. Given this, just how do you differentiate the two? Just who is to do this task and to what end? I thought the whole notion of a free press and free speach is that we don't have such censors restricting what you might talk about or the acceptable opinions you might have.
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Quote: Those questions would be applicable to the country those reporters were in... not their country of origin. An American journalist being targeted in Iraq reflects the freedom of press in Iraq, not in the US
and as TimmiT said, the issue of other national reporters in Iraq is not lowering the US score.
Timmit made conclusory statements with abosolutely no factual support. He may have said it, but there's no reason to believe it untill he can justify it
So he can't express his agreement with that statement? Do you disagree with my conclusion? If so, please elaborate. I simply used common sense and will not justify my statement any further.
No, I did not say he can't express his agreement, nor have you shown how this follows from my post. You seem intent on chategorizing those who disagree or find fault in your argument as those who disagree with you on the merits.
If you don't wish to justify your statements then don't make them. Your shirking of your burden of proor renders questionable the merits of any of the things you've said. Anyone can allege their claims are correct and sensical, as you've done, yet that isn't what anyone has asked for and is completely insufficient to demonstrate your claims.
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Quote: It is filled with Orwellian irony that they should be declared the hosts of world press freedom day while attacking wikileaks.
Why? Further, how are they attacking wikileaks and how does this reflect poorly on press freedom et cet?
Although there is speculation around the world, I don't claim to know whether the US is attacking wikileads or not... but how do you not see the connection to press freedom? If the US were trying to suppress wikileaks it would obviously reflect poorly on press freedom, particularly with regard to censorship and freedom of information.
I asked why. Repeating your conclusions is not helpful. I allready know what you think, I don't understand the basis for it.
Seems to me that the discriminating factor would have to be the legitimacy of the US's actions and the acceptability of Assange's- rather than the binary calculus you advance of determing repression simply as a function of whether any opposition to assange is exhibited. Does the US have no right to express its opinion?
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Quote: Again, I'm certainly unaware of any place more conducive to wikileaks than the US.
Considering that some equate the actions of wikileaks to epsionage, I doubt that the US government would give them a warm welcome.
What is the relevance of this? That the US might not warmly welcome anybody who does not have a right to be in the US seems completely besides the point- simply put, that isn't what we're discussing. Further, please back up your claims regarding espionage- this seems a red herring.
I'm unaware of any compotent argument that has made an arguable claim that wikileaks is engaged in espionage.
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