U.S. Ranks 17th in Freedom of the Press

reimero writes "According to this article on Yahoo! Germany the U.S. has experienced "serious restrictions" in freedom of the press, according to Reporters without borders' first worldwide press freedom index. Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands came in tops. An interesting study, to say the least."

Hmm...

[waldoj]

How long until Ashcroft DMCAs this story?

-Waldo Jaquith

how scary is it ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... that an article about lack of freedom of the press in the US, is published in germany?

This report is a lie

[Anonymous Coward]

We need to censor it now, before it gets out.

Canada is 5th?

[Quasar1999]

Funny, I could swear the only reason we're so low on the list, is we have no real good 'news' to report, other than what happens in the US...

Er,... This can't be valid...

[TooCynical]

They don't know how to count...

>>The situation in especially bad in Asia, which contains the four worst offenders - North Korea, China, Burma, Turkmenistan and Bhutan.

That is 5 of the worst offenders. :\

Well, I think it's probably because...

[Kozz]

In all honesty, I think this is due to

[censored]

Why havent I seen this reported...

[Unknown Poltroon]

Oh, yeah, nevermind.

News for Blowhards

[Pave Low]

what a surprise, another 'US is bad' article is posted by Michael.

slashdot ranks last in Freedom of users, according to me. Editor modbombin, secret blasting and such. can you post that as news?

Dear moderators

[sjonke]

To even out things a bit, please mod down any posts originating from Finland, Iceland, Norway or the Netherlands. Thanks.

Canada Kicks Ass Again

[SubtleNuance]

Again, Canada Outranks our neighbours.
in honour of that, Ill tell a little joke:

God, speaking to one of his underlings after the creation of the earth is pointing at some of its wonders. God says, "oh, and this is Canada, it will have a democratic and peacefull native people, it will have unequalled natural beauty, Mountains, seashore, Wild places like nowhere else... later, a great nation will be formed there. One of peace, tolerance, dialogue and understanding. They will not make wars with their enemies, they will appeal to man's good nature. They will care and respect one another. These Canadians will have the respect of other great peoples, but be humble and honest -- respectfull and mindfull of the virtue of others.

to which, God's pion replies "Well, I wonder God, Is it wise bestowing all these great gifts on a single place -- on a single people?"

God replies "well, its not as simple as it looks, wait until the you see the Assholes I put next to them.

Badda-Bing, Ill be hear all week, tip your waitress.. try the Lasagna.

Re:Rumors also have...

[Anonymous Coward]

shh... you'll distract us from the bread and circus'

Re:Bogus..

[Ace905]

Wow, finally somebody whose not afraid to go and shoot government officials.

I'm pretty sure your gun only contributes to crime as the statistics prove. The only people that are afraid of gun-toting americans are the ones that want real change and go against the status quo. Kennedy, John Lennon, Larry Flynt.

Go fight a tax hike with some guns, terrorist.

Re:Canada is 5th?

[ornil]

It's also surprising, since almost all of the major Canadian newspapers are owned by two people.

Well, this quite satisfies the requirements for democracy, you know. After all, there can be no more than two different points of view. In the US they are known as Republican and Democratic.

Re:Canada Kicks Ass Again

[distributed.karma]

The problem with Canada is that they could have gotten French cuisine, American technology and English culture. Instead, they ended up with French technology, American culture and English cuisine.

Ba-Doom Ching!

Re:This report is a lie

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, damn those asshole Germans, having the gaul to only post in German on a German web site.

Re:Freedom of the first post.

[spiny]

....."last month a worldwide survey was conducted by the united nations.the only question asked was 'would you please give your honest opinion about food shortage in the rest of the world?'.....the survey was a huge failure - in africa they didnt know what food meant. in eastern europe they didnt know what honest meant. in western europe they didnt know what shortage meant. in china they didnt know what opinion meant...........in the middle east they didnt know wht solution meant.....in south america they didnt know what please meant.....and in america,they didnt know what the rest of the world meant........"

Re:Canada is 5th?

[pommiekiwifruit]

After all, there can be no more than two different points of view. In the US they are known as Republican and Democratic

I thought that was one point of view?

Re:This report is a lie

[punchdrunk]

Don't worry. A good /.ing should do the trick.

and ...

[cascadingstylesheet]

My Russian Professor in college used to regularly speak about how here we pretended to have freedom but had none while in the Soviet Union they had very little freedom but what there was was all REAL freedom. I've heard very similar comments from immigrants from countries noted for their "human rights violations". Clearly there's a need to closely examine things here in the U.S.

Um, and he was here, right?

What, do I really need to spell it out for you?

I once endured a "Contemporary American Society" class taught by an Iranian immigrant, about how awful the U.S. was. I notice he was here too ...

Re:So the U.S. Isn't the best at everything.

[chef_raekwon]

amen.

Mon dieu!

[ZaMoose]

Bah, who cares? The report's authored by the French! Those cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys put an author on trial recently for stating in public that he thought Islam was the "stupidest religion" or somesuch, so I'm hesitant to even begin feeling chastised.

Stupid Frogs.

...and yet again!

[PCM2]

In other news, the independent journalism group Reporters Without Incident announced today that Canada had yet again ranked #1 on a list of nations ordered by inoffensiveness.

"This recognition is a great honor," Prime Minister Jean Chrtien said in a statement, "but in truth it only confirms what we, as Canadians have always known: That never, in the entire history of our country, have we ever done anything that has caused other nations to pay undue notice or attention.

"Today, the world has finally recognized that Canada is the nation, above all others, that incites little or no reaction from the rest of the world whatsoever. Today, Canadians everywhere can take pride in their timid, mousy anonymity, assured that their presence on the world political stage bothers nobody."

XXX X XXXXXX XX XXXX XXX XXX

[circletimessquare]

As an American, I find it absolutely stunning that XXXXX X XXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXXXXX XX X XXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXX!

I have heard rumors that there is new technology in use on the Internet that can XXXXXX XX XXXX XXX XXXXX XX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX.

While this technology is distressing, let's not forget that through the Internet we still can XXXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXX XXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXXX X XXX.

Additionally I want to say to the international community that here in America there are still people who XX XXXXXXXXXX XX XXXXX X XXXXXXXXXX X XXX XXXXX X XXX X XXXXX.

And let's never forget, XXX XXX X XXXXXXX X!

I tried to read it...

[T.E.D.]

but got the following from my web browser:

You have requested a site that has been blocked. If this site is needed for business reasons please contact the Helpdesk at ext. 5400.

Oh well...I guess all is well. :-)

Re:Canada is 5th?

[Bastian]

After all, there can be no more than two different points of view. In the US they are known as Republican and Democratic.
I thought that was one point of view?

Shh! that's supposed to be a secret!

OH MY GOD

[Anonymous Coward]

...that .fr is suddenly the country code for Germany.

The Germans have annexed France again! Send the boys back in!

Canada is 2nd!!

[Dr Caleb]

The first four all had the same score.

What are you talking about, no news? Haven't you noticed that in all major cities, murders are down but the "Hunting Accident" rate is up?

Re:Canada Kicks Ass Again

[Anonymous Coward]

A long time ago, all the villages in present day Canada decided to ban together and become a nation. But what should they call their new country? After a long, arduous search, they found the eldest and wisest man and asked him what they should do. He said "put all the letters of the alphabet on pieces of paper in a jar." So they did as he said and handed him the jar. The elder put his hand in the jar, started pulling out letters, and read them aloud. "C, eh. N, eh. D, eh..."

Re:Canada is 5th?

[chimpo13]

As the Feederz said, "When you're being sodomized, who cares if it's from the Right or the Left".

Re:Canada is 5th?

[uk_greg]

"I agree with the puppet on the right."

"I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking."

"Hey! How come there's one guy holding both puppets?!?"

- The late, great Bill Hicks (paraphrased)

Re:This report is a lie

[phong3d]

Did you mean to misspell "gall" on purpose? If so, that's a pretty sly Roman Empire-era reference/homonym/pun triple-entendre bit of humor. If not... well, uh, nevermind.

Just to make everyone feel better...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since it seems that there is already quite the dicksize war going on here. I thought I would slightly rearrange the standings in hopes that our american friends will calm down with the bashing of Every Country With A Higher Score Than Them.

Gold - Finland, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands
Silver - Canada
Bronze - Ireland
4th - Germany, Portugal, Sweden
5th - Denmark
6th - France
7th - Australia, Belgium
8th - Slovenia
9th - Costa Rica, Switzerland
10th - United States

Do you guys feel better now? I know it's not exactly good enough to be dumping the gatorade cooler on coach Dubya - but maybe next year the guys will work a little harder in spring training, and then they just might Go All The Way!

ok one last time

[RestiffBard]

this survey is meaningless.

the amount of freedom a press has is proportional to the amount of information they have to dig up.

how much info do you have to dig up in costa rica?

rumsfeld censors his briefings to the press cause we're at war. is costa rica at war?

by the way how many countries prime ministers or secretaries have daily briefings with the press?

and finally, again who cares? it all comes out in the end. what we don't know now we will know in about 30-40 years anyway and we'll be flummoxed as to why we thought we needed to know so much in the first place.

case in point. the cuban missle crisis. recently tons of info has been declassified regarding those 13 days. how many of you cared? if the info is irrelevant now it was just as irrelevant then.

Re:Canada is 5th?

[MagikSlinger]

No one needs a first ammendment to publish a cookbook.

Not unless it's To Serve Man.

I hope people get this joke...

A new threat

[sacrilicious]

The situation in especially bad in Asia, which contains the four worst offenders - North Korea, China, Burma, Turkmenistan and Bhutan

a new "axis of journalistic evil"!

.

Re:Rumors also have...

[2short]

Yeah, when the tanks roll into his front yard he'll be wishing he had that .38 special.

Re:Canada is 5th?

[Reziac]

Nonsense. I am black on the right side; he is black on the left side. Can't you see the difference? ;)

Re:Bogus..

[Stonehand]

Here's an interesting fact: officials haven't gotten any more bulletproof than they were 226 years ago.

Censorship?

[cybercomm]

What DMCA? What censorship?

The real problem is [CENSORED]

Now move along nothing to see here!

Re:ok one last time

[RestiffBard]

perhaps someday we'll meet and I'll be able to draw pictures to show what I mean.

(no I'm not saying you're not intelligent I'm saying that I'm just lacking the ability to get my point across today)

and as for freedom to provide information.

should we have the freedom to access or provide any information we want? some information really doesn't want to be free. or do you feel that all info should be free?

and now finally, i feel that the US has more information that really ought not be free than does Costa Rica at present.

do i think troop movements should be free? no. are they? yes.

do i think the status of chinese prisoners should be free (such as the recently released Wei Jingsheng)? yes, are they? no.

do i think the status of the al qaeda/taliban detainees should be free? yes. are they? no.

does costa rica have taliban detainees? no!

still not making any sense yet am i? oh well. I can't make sense on every post.

Kronkite can't film war on Iraq?! Awww...

[Anonymous Coward]

Aww, is Walter Kronkite upset that he can't film a war in Iraq, or other secret military operations? Are the agencies in Washington DC keeping the details of the sniper investigation from Dan Rather? How dare they! These poor, mistreated reporters need to take a tip from Geraldo and board a flight to Afghanistan where all these meddlesome press censors won't be in their way.

Re:Not a flamebait...but

[sheldon]

It's pretty simple.

As an American, I have the right to criticize my country and my government.

If you are not an American, you do not have that right.

Your user info indicates you are from Sweden, and maybe you just don't understand the rules yet. It's sort of like being the older brother in a family. It's ok for you to pick on your younger brother, but it's not ok for the neighbor kid to do so.

Very crappy religion, then...

[Rui del-Negro]

Religion in North America is not treated special, simply like a charity. There are NO SPECIAL POWERS.

That's why religion is in such a deep crisis in the USA. Who is going to worship a God that doesn't even have special powers?

RMN
~~~

Re:...and yet again!

[charon_on_acheron]

Why would Canadian soldiers have fought for Germany???

Perhaps he just meant your guys would have had fun on the Russian front. "It's 40 below and I don't give a fuck, eh. Drop a bomb on the lake there and break up the ice a little, I want to go swimming." ;^)

Re:They hate us for our freedom!

[liloldme]

Yes, just watch Al Qaeda attack Finland next!