Press freedom

GarconDuMonde writes "Reporters San Frontiers has released it's third annual worldwide index of press freedom. Although the majority of top-ranking countries are from northern Europe, it is perhaps more interesting to note where countries such as Switzerland, Italy, the UK and the USA fall (1, 39, 28 and 22, respectively)."

Comments

Isn't Switzerland

[Anonymous Coward]

The country responsible for getting the Indymedia servers pulled?

Re:Americans talk about freedom

[kfg]

Unamerican Tshirt

I got the quote a bit wrong, and in this case they were threatened with a charge of disorderly conduct, but in other cases trespass has actually been formally charged.

KFG

Re:Americans talk about freedom

[Keith McClary]

"A Saudi-American captured in Afghanistan, labeled an enemy combatant and held in U.S. solitary confinement for nearly three years without charge returned to his family Monday after agreeing to forfeit his U.S. citizenship for freedom."
http://www.cleveland.com/world/plaindealer/index.s sf?/base/news/1097578544287260.xml
Detainee forfeits U.S. citizenship for freedom

Fair trade?

Re:Americans talk about freedom

[Anonymous Coward]

canada's for example is very SPECIFIC and has definite wording for their "freedom of speeach"

Actually, as a Canadian, it was the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that was foremost in my mind when I posted that.

Right at the top:

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

That defines a limit on freedom that does not really exist in the U.S. constitution, and leaves the limit very much open to debate. People who know anything about the Charter (including judges and lawyers) are well aware of this, and eager to push back against government attempts to curtail freedom. We know the government would get away with it if we let them. No false sense of security there.

In contrast, Americans (with the exception of a few, who are usually marginalized as "$foo-wing nutcases"), seem more willing to sit back and expect the Constitution to protect them. At least, that's my perception, as a non-American.

Re:Press Freedom absolutely necessary

[ThaReetLad]

It is obvious that most of the mainstream press has a left wing slant to it.

But on a global scale, even your left wing is right wing, and your right wing is only slightly left of Mussolini.

Just because the Democrats pass for lefties in America, it doesn't mean they would anywhere else.