Reporters without Borders just published its annual World Press Freedom Index rankings, and the results for both the U.S. and UK are not impressive. Both countries declined two spots from last year, with the UK at 41, and the greatest and most free nation on earth, America, down to 43.
Here’s The Guardian reporting on the UK’s decline:
Journalists in the UK are less free to hold power to account than those working in South Africa, Chile or Lithuania, according to an index of press freedom around the world.
Laws permitting generalised surveillance, as well as a proposal for a new espionage act that could criminalise journalists and whistleblowers as spies, were cited by Reporters Without Borders as it knocked the UK down two places from last year, to 40th out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.
In the past five years, the UK has slipped 12 places down the index. Rebecca Vincent, RSF’s UK bureau director, said this year’s ranking would have been worse were it not for a general decline in press freedom around the world, making journalists in Britain comparatively better off than those in countries such as Turkey and Syria.
RSF, which campaigns for free speech, warned of a general erosion of media freedom in English-speaking, democratic countries. The US, long considered a bastion of freedom of speech thanks to the first amendment of its constitution, also dropped two places, to 43rd. Canada fell four places, to 22nd, and New Zealand slipped eight places, to 13th.
Among the concerns raised by RSF was the passage of the UK’s “menacing” Investigatory Powers Act last November, which met only token resistance within parliament, despite giving UK intelligence agencies and police the most sweeping surveillance powers in the western world.
“The government failed to protect journalists when it passed the Investigatory Powers Act. Now, the Law Commission has proposed to send them to prison if they so much as handle official data. This comes at a time when we must be able to hold the government to account over its vast surveillance powers … Mass surveillance chills freedom of expression and undermines democracy.”
Moving along, what about the shining city on a hill? Land of the free, home of the brave, the world’s indispensable nation!
Here’s what Reporters without Borders had to say about the U.S. as it dropped two spots to 43.
US press freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment to the 1787 constitution, has encountered several major obstacles over the past few years, most recently with the election of President Donald Trump. He has declared the press an “enemy of the American people” in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, while attempting to block White House access to multiple media outlets in retaliation for critical reporting. Despite the bleak outlook under Trump, it bears repeating that his predecessor left behind a flimsy legacy for press freedom and access to information. Journalists continue to be arrested for covering various protests around the country, with several currently facing criminal charges. The Obama administration waged a war on whistleblowers who leaked information about its activities, leading to the prosecution of more leakers than any previous administration combined. To this day, American journalists are still not protected by a federal “shield law” guaranteeing their right to protect their sources and other confidential work-related information. And over the past few years, there has been an increase in prolonged searches of journalists and their devices at the US border, with some foreign journalists being prevented from any travel to the US after they covered sensitive topics such as Colombia’s FARC or Kurdistan.
If you think that’s bad, imagine where the U.S. will end up if the DOJ actually goes forward with charges against Julian Assange?
I discussed that troubling scenario in last week’s post, The American Empire Under Donald Trump Has Become Increasingly Desperate, Dangerous & Insecure.
Things are not headed in the right direction.
If you enjoyed this post, and want to contribute to genuine, independent media, consider visiting our Support Page.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G
Follow me on Twitter.
ONLY ONE LINK TO NOTE:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/04/26/the-satanists-who-destroyed-the-middle-east-are-back-in-washington
“…the greatest and most free nation on earth, America”. Excuse me, but when did you decide to go into competition with “The Onion”? What was true once is no longer the case. We have elected far too many idiots, liars, thieves, scoundrels, and traitors and now whatever liberty remains is a pale shadow of what we once were. It actually makes me a little sick to see that in print.
Sorry you didn’t pick up on the fact that was drenched in sarcasm.
Michael, I did realize that. But there as some topic that are kind of sensitive to me and the destruction of the freedoms that I used to cherish is one of them. I USED TO BE the most pro-American person that you could possibly imagine but with everything that has happened in the last 16 years since 9/11 that is no longer the case. The only reason that I’m still here is because I’m taking full time care of my invalid mother who’s in her 80’s and as soon as she passes on I’m heading for either Chile or Paraguay. I’ve had more than enough of this S*** to last me a lifetime.
I am seriously considering getting the hell out of here to, so f#cking fed up with it.
Like Bill Burr said in his latest comedy special “By the time they finish building the f#cking wall we’ll be the one’s going over it”
Moving my family out is becoming a more tempting option every day.
Check this, I’m sure many of you saw the article on drudge or zero hedge that stated that 59% of Americans want more government, more government can you believe that sh!t, jesus christ we are f#cking idiots !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM LIVING IN FATAL CONDITIONS MYSELF; WE REALIZE THAT BIBLE PROPHECY IS BEING FULFILLED AND JESUS CHRIST SHALL RETURN WHEN ALL HAS BEEN FULFILLED. THIS IS THE ONLY EVENT THAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO, ACTIVITIES ON EARTH SHALL BE CONDUCTED AS IN THE HEAVENS, THERE SHALL BE NO SICKNESS, HOSPITALS, DEATH, OR CEMETERIES. INFINITE UNIVERSES SHALL BE CLEANSED OF ANY EVIL ENTITIES, WE SHALL BE ASSIGNED DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITHOUT SIN, EVIL, AND CORRUPTION. WE HAVE EVERYTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT NOW. ABOVE ALL ELSE, WE MUST NOT ACCEPT THE MARK OF THE BEAST.
If your serious, I mean REALLY serious, then check out “Sovereign Man Confidential” (Simon Black) on your computer. There is a tremendous amount of information available there for a reasonable price. Simon lives now in Chile but travels all over the world and has a vast amount of contacts. He can tell you what is legit and what will get you put in a foreign prison hellhole. I’ve been a member with him now going on seven years.
I’ll check out, I’ve heard of Simon Black off and on over the years, thanks
Thank you for this article. It should be front and center news……This does not bode well…. a worldwide, organized, drift to total censorship. Please keep writing, you are one of the few i trust. Actually, i suspect wikileaks and assange have been compromised in a way not quite understood…..yet.
My guess with no info to go on is that Assange has been privately told that if he wants to ever leave the embassy that he needs to start playing ball with the American establishment. Otherwise sooner or later he will be forced out of the embassy and will be charged with the trumped up (Pun intended) rape charges and put in jail until he dies there.
Complete bullshit and not true. And the form of the table in General debility. Countries with the same color is designated with numbers in random order. If several countries of the same color and the numbers should be all the same, and not in order of priority 1 2 3 4 5 and so on.
They aren’t ranked randomly, the detailed numbers for each country are all listed. Either look at the table on the right in the link: https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2017#
Or click any country you want for specifics.
False looks, and especially for Ukraine, they Have a solid censorship on radio, TV and new media media. A satellite dish is prohibited. Not watching Russian channels from the space satellite. For this criminal article and the security Service of Ukraine cut the antenna if anyone will notice. The Level Of North Korea. This country And put the 102. In Russia, neither the press nor radio nor TV, no one ever banned, put 148.
ANYONE CAN RESEARCH THIS, RUSSIA AS OF TODAY, HAS LAUNCHED THE FIRST STRIKE AGAINST THE US DOLLAR. THIS MEANS THE WORLD HAS STARTED TO DUMP US.
So what nation is in the no.1 place, then?
The answer to that is China. China is stockpiling massive amounts of gold and silver in order to back the Yuan currency when the time comes. They are modernizing their military and now have a stealth fighter similar to our F-22 Raptor. They have just launched their second aircraft carrier and this one is not an old converted russian ship but a new one of their own design and they have built military fortifications in the south China Sea with airfields and missile launch pads. Start learning Mandarin.
I gotta call BS on the world press freedom index. Sweden does not have free speech and yet they are ranked best in the world. This smells like propaganda to me.
I agree. In Sweden you can lose your job if you speak out against official government policies such as immigration. Where the heck the freedom of speech there?