America is the most dangerous country for journalists

By
IFE Admin
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Especially in a country like India, where freedom of expression is so much abused. In a way, the ruling party and someone who supports the majority population of Hindus can be hounded for decades. One living example is the current Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi. Ever since he became the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, the biased media hounded him with so-called facts and a fake story or with news with political motivation. He is just an example of how the freedom of expression in India has been enjoyed in the country. Yet many activists always complains and always look at the United States to compare and get their help to abuse India to the core.

Many could have heard this line now and then:

“In the US, nobody faces abuse for speaking the truth.”

Technically correct. But the issue is not a clean or an open and shut case.

In the United States the land of freedom and opportunity, Nobody speaks the truth in the first place, every idea in their public sphere is a product of manufactured consent. Either the consent of a particular political ideology or against any particular ideologies.

The few who do speak the truth are not just abused, they are persecuted. This is as per CPJ – The committee to protect the journalist. In one of their report, the findings stated “Within the United States, no journalists were jailed at the time of CPJ’s prison census, but an unprecedented 110 journalists were arrested or criminally charged in 2020.

And the worst part is around 300 were assaulted, the majority by law enforcement, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

At least 12 still face criminal charges, some of which carry jail terms.”

Observers told CPJ that the polarized political climate, militarized law enforcement, and vitriol toward the media combined during a wave of protests to eradicate norms that once afforded journalists police protection.

If this had happened in any other part of the world the western world could be up in arms for human rights and press freedom. But this won’t be the case with the western countries like the US where 110 journalists were charged or arrested and over 300 ever attacked for exposing the rot in the system and the government.

Mr Ruchir Sharma an expert in foreign policy while rebutting during an online debate on freedom of speech in India is worst than in the US. Richie Sharma said “The only reason there is no government censorship in the UK/US, is because it has been replaced by self-censorship.

The only reason it is called the “free press” is that it publishes everything that state intelligence agencies expect of it, for free.”

This is a very true statement. This may not be known to many for the same reason I mention above. Since it happens in the west it doesn’t matter.

In western society, the narrative is not directly controlled by the government but the government influenced organisations and big tech companies which even banned the former president Donald J Trump in the middle of the US Election 2020. Which directly impacted the election result. Just take a moment and let this sink in.

As per the report shared by Ruchir Sharma “In effect, the large bureaucracies of the powerful subsidize the mass media, and gain special access by their contribution to reducing the media’s costs of acquiring the raw materials of, and producing, news.

The large entities that provide this subsidy become “routine” news sources and have privileged access to the gates. Non-routine sources must struggle for access and may be ignored by the arbitrary decision of the gatekeepers. It should also be noted that in the case of the largesse of the Pentagon and the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy, the subsidy is at the taxpayers’ expense, so that, in effect, the citizenry pays to be propagandized in the interest of powerful groups such as military contractors and other sponsors of state terrorism.

Because of their services, continuous contact on the beat, and mutual dependency, the powerful can use personal relationships, threats, and rewards to further influence and coerce the media. The media may feel obligated to carry extremely dubious stories and mute criticism in order not to offend their sources and disturb a close relationship.

It is very difficult to call authorities on whom one depends for daily news liars, even if they tell whoppers. Critical sources may be avoided not only because of their lesser availability and higher cost of establishing credibility but also because the primary sources may be offended and may even threaten the media using them.”

And the press freedom in the United States is a complete mockery when you have Big tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube scuffle the voice of certain political views from their platform. Even if the US constitution called for strong-worded ‘Freedom of Expression’. In this world of jokers, I’m the United States and the west which now taken over by the communist and left-wing ideologues, Company’s private norms can be ruled over the Constitution.

At least 117 journalists have been detained or arrested while covering protests across the U.S. in 2020, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a collaborative project of two leading press advocacy organizations.

The report, which covers cases up to December 10, shows an unprecedented number of reporters, photographers and news crews detained while covering protests in about 40 U.S. cities. The arrests in 2020 amount to more than double what the Tracker recorded in 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined — and it is still verifying cases. 

“The number is unlike what we’ve seen in the Tracker’s entire history,” said Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the project. “This year we’ve seen just an unprecedented amount of protests across the nation. And protests have always been an incredibly dangerous place for journalists compared to other beats.” 

In 2019, the Tracker documented nine cases of journalists detained. But arrests aren’t the only press freedom intrusions to have increased in 2020. By mid-December, the Tracker’s researchers were working to verify more than 1,000 incidents, including physical attacks, border stops and subpoenas. Last year, the team recorded a total of 152 violations. As per Voice of America.

Just have a detailed comparison to that of India. Where the press has the right to even criticise and debate every single government schemes. And in this world of the leftist takeover, some media are also under the control of certain political parties and ideology. There are no saints or no thief. At least stop criticisms of others while your house is on fire.

274 journalists were in jail due to their work as of December 01, 2020, a figure that exceeds the high of 272 recorded in 2016. More than 250 journalists are behind bars for the fifth consecutive year amid a lack of global leadership on democratic values, particularly in the United States. China is the worst jailer with 47 journalists identified as being in prison there. Turkey came second with 37 while Egypt came third with 27.

This is from statistic.com. Am not advocating for dictators in China or Turkey. But giving clean chit to the US has arrested 110 journalists for covering the leftist, Antifa or Black Life Matters riots which have burnt down multiple cities just before the US election. It means the US Secretary agencies act as the puppet of the deep state which decides what is right and what is wrong. This is the situation in the so-called ‘Land of Freedom’ and a Super Power the United States.