| Submit your comments on this article |
| The Grand Turk |
| Amid U.S. Uproar Over AP Phone Records, Turkey's PM Gets a Pass on Press Freedom |
| 2013-05-17 |
| Campaigners urged President Obama to raise press freedom concerns with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, but the only media freedom issue raised during their joint press conference was much closer to home – the secret seizure of Associated Press phone records. Under Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, press freedom has deteriorated sharply. In its annual international assessment of press freedom, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders this year ranks Turkey 154th out of 179 countries, and calls it “currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists.” On the eve of Erdogan’s visit, Reporters Without Borders head Christophe Deloire joined with Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon in urging Obama to give him the message that “Turkey's failure to address its press freedom crisis is undermining the country's strategic relationship with the United States and hindering its regional aspirations.” |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 but the only media freedom issue raised during their joint press conference was much closer to home -- the secret seizure of Associated Press phone records Well, it was raining in the Rose Garden... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-05-17 15:36 |