We have also revisited the master American propagandist Edward L. Bernays.
Bernays is called by some "The Father of Spin", but Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter described him as a professional poisoner of the public mind, exploiter of foolishness, fanaticism and self-interest (Wikipedia).
Some may wonder why we are concerned with a free press, as they advance the notion that "since this is America we must have the best press in the world, right?"
Besides, they might go on to say, "the freedom of the press is even guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution":
Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of ... the press ...(First Amendment). We can check how well we have been doing with a comparison to the other nations of the world, recorded annually by certain organizations.
The following list of countries are the top 47 nations in the world, in terms of press freedom, beginning with Finland at #1, and the U.S.A. at #47:
Finland, Norway, Estonia, Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cape Verde, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Ireland, Cyprus, Jamaica, Germany, Costa Rica, Belgium, Namibia, Japan, Surinam, Poland, Mali, OECS, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Niger, Australia, Lithuania, Uruguay, Portugal, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Slovenia, El Salvador, France, Spain, Hungary, Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, South Korea, Comoros, Taiwan, United States of America ...(Reporters Without Borders, 2011-2012, emphasis added). After noticing that two of those nations, Czech Republic and Slovakia, were once part of the former U.S.S.R., you might ask "what laws has congress passed that did this damage to our press?"
The answer is that they have allowed the mainstream press, as well as themselves, to become the property of the 1%, a few for profit corporations, whose first interest is profits for stockholders, not true news for the public.
Furthermore, the U.S. mainstream press is known around the world, and to a lesser extent at home, as a vast propaganda engine (Blind Willie McTell News).
I noticed that the British Press ranks better than the U.S., so since British Journalists were arrested for crimes (bribing police, hacking phones, etc) the U.S. press stinks badly no doubt. Link
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, not all countries are lucky enough to have Rupert Murdoch. That could be a major factor in why Australia, England and the United States rank behind so many others.
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