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US Press Whines and Whimpers
BOSTON (Reuters) - America's First Amendment turned 213 years old on Wednesday, but supporters of the bulwark of personal liberty and free press are hardly celebrating. The free press -- a linchpin of America's proud democracy -- faces its toughest challenge in a generation thanks to legal assaults that have left one U.S. journalist in home detention and others facing prison. A flurry of well-publicized scandals at some of the country's top news organizations has sullied the media's image and only made matters worse.With other nations expecting America to lead the world in press freedoms, the stakes could not be higher, said Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Ann Cooper. "The very big concern for us is if journalists are imprisoned in these cases it sends a terrible message around the world," she said. Imprisoning journalists is typically associated with tyrannies and dictatorships, making it ironic that U.S. judges in the past six months have threatened at least eight reporters with sanctions or jail time for not naming sources, said First Amendment Center Ombudsman Paul McMasters. Free press rights in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution have come under attack many times since the 45-word clause took effect Dec. 15, 1791. McMasters said the last big assault came when Richard Nixon was president. "Not since then can I recall a time where the nation's free press has been tested so intensely," he said, noting that Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell was not mindful of balancing the need for press freedoms. ... Funny, the only time you hear the US press talk about a Proud American Democracy is when it's their power in the balance. The press, of course, has done nothing whatsoever to invite such derision, challenge, and scrutiny. J-Schools have always taught them to be socialist tools and foils and to be as partisan as possible. Everyone knows this. So, sniff sniff, why is everyone picking on them? Heh, heh. Posted by: .com 2004-12-16 |
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