Fearing Government Surveillance, US Journalists Are Self-Censoring

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Fearing Government Surveillance, US Journalists Are Self-Censoring

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 4, 2013 @07:42AM from the except-the-ones-you-wish-would-self-censor dept.

binarstu writes "Suzanne Nossel, writing for CNN, reports that 'a survey of American writers done in October revealed that nearly one in four has self-censored for fear of government surveillance. They fessed up to curbing their research, not accepting certain assignments, even not discussing certain topics on the phone or via e-mail for fear of being targeted. The subjects they are avoiding are no surprise — mostly matters to do with the Middle East, the military and terrorism.' Yet ordinary Americans, for the most part, seem not to care: 'Surveillance so intrusive it is putting certain subjects out of bounds would seem like cause for alarm in a country that prides itself as the world's most free. Americans have long protested the persecution and constraints on journalists and writers living under repressive regimes abroad, yet many seem ready to accept these new encroachments on their freedom at home.'"

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Deluded ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-04 07:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

Surveillance so intrusive it is putting certain subjects out of bounds would seem like cause for alarm in a country that prides itself as the world's most free
Continuing to believe that is a sign you're delusional, not 'free'.
1. Re:Deluded ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-04 08:14 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I normally choose odd pictures as my avatar on Facebook. Yesterday I was about to zero in on one of the spies from Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy holding a bomb, and I decided against it. I'm middle eastern and live in the U.S. I shouldn't have to worry about such things, yet worries of surveilance coupled with my background swayed me otherwise.
2. Re:Deluded ... by gstoddart · 2013-12-04 08:20 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  So, which country do you live in that is more free? Or have you just given up and all you have left to offer is snarky cynicism?
  I think the point is that the US used to be a fine example of what freedom should look like.
  When the US starts down this road, it's terrible news for everyone else on the planet as all of the other governments say "fuck it". And, in many cases, at the request of Americans, they've made the rest of us markedly less free as we get spied on more in order to give the US a sense of security.
  America used to be one of the few free places on the planet, and was what we all hoped for. Now, not so much.
  Sadly, America has almost become an impediment to everyone else's freedoms. Because they're sure as hell undermining them.
  
  --
  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
3. Re:Deluded ... by AIphaWolf_HK · 2013-12-04 08:31 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Not get molested at airports. Protest without being required to have a permit or sent off to a free speech zone. It's not something I'd personally like to do, but there are many drugs that are illegal. The fourth amendment is being consistently ignored. There are constitution-free zones around the border. Those are just some things that are a problem at the moment. You obviously didn't try very hard if you couldn't think of one problem.
  I'd also like to not have my communications spied on by the government.
4. Re:Deluded ... by mwehle · 2013-12-04 08:34 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I'm old enough to remember what living in "FREE AMERICA" was like.
  Uh, just how old is that? I'm old enough to remember Kent State, being kicked by a middle-aged stranger because I didn't stand for the national anthem at a 4th of July fireworks display, and discussions with the school principal about my right to refuse swearing fealty to the US flag. I'm old enough to remember Eugene McCarthy and the Chicago police riot. Are you old enough to remember Joe McCarthy? HUAC? The Palmer Raids? When exactly were you living in "FREE AMERICA"? What was it like?
  
  --
  Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein - Rio Reiser
5. Re:Deluded ... by SirGarlon · 2013-12-04 08:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Carry a pocket knife into a government building. Ride the subway without being searched. Keep my fucking shoes on at the airport. Apply for a job without having to prove my citizenship. Not buy health insurance. Go to Canada without having to carry my passport like we could do for 99% of American history. Write DRM-cracking software. Smoke a joint if I feel like it (I don't actually want to do that, but many do, and who am I to deny them?)
  Shall I go on?
  
  --
  [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
6. Re:Deluded ... by EdIII · 2013-12-04 08:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  How about the simplest and yet most important one?
  Being able to have a conversation with a couple of people about highly controversial topics without fear of the government recording your conversations, creating files on all of you, and adding you to watch lists that strongly curtail your freedom of movement?
  I seem to remember the Founding Fathers being pretty fucking excited about getting that one into the framework of the country....
7. Re:Deluded ... by Runaway1956 · 2013-12-04 08:40 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Unless you are a few years older than I am, I doubt that you remember living in a "FREE AMERICA". During the McCarthy days, you were "free" to associate with card carrying communists, of course, but the moment any of the McCarthyites found out about it, you would be dragged through an ugly media trial. After your character had been thoroughly destroyed, you were then free to actually join the party. A lot of black folk might chime in here, to remind you of the many ways that they were "free". In my lifetime, black people were denied service in white restaurants, denied seating at the front of buses, and denied access to necessary public spaces such as restrooms.
  I believe that what you actually mean is, you can remember a time when you were completely unaware of civil rights violations all around you. I also remember such a time. Life was wonderful when I was five years old, and my greatest achievements included learning to ride a two-wheeled bike, and passing the test to get into first grade.
  
  --
  "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
8. Re:Deluded ... by Runaway1956 · 2013-12-04 08:44 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You should read the correspondence of the founding fathers. They spell out very explicitly that the right to bear arms applies to individuals, and that the purpose of that right is to curb an oppressive government. The "militia" includes all able bodied men between the ages of 18 and 40, not just members of an established militia.
  There is no misunderstanding on the part of gun rights advocates. The misunderstanding is intentionally spread by the gun control crowd. Government is not meant to have control over any man's ability to defend himself, period. We have made exceptions for dangerously violent people, and the mentally infirm - everyone else is entitled to carry the same weapons that the police forces are authorized to carry.
  
  --
  "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
9. Re:Deluded ... by SirGarlon · 2013-12-04 08:48 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  In Boston, at every subway station, the police set up a checkpoint one day a year and search everyone who goes through it. They do this a) to remind the citizens who is really in charge b) to keep up the security theatre that brings them Federal dollars and c) to establish a history of conducting dragnet searches so a future plaintiff cannot claim a "reasonable expectation of privacy."
  If there is an American city that has a subway system and does NOT perform this annual charade, please let me know. I would be surprised but please to hear about it.
  
  --
  [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
10. Re:Deluded ... by crunchygranola · 2013-12-04 10:04 · Score: 4, Insightful
  Not having insurance does not mean you're using the ER as your insurance. The fix is to repeal that law, not to force others to pay for the freeloaders.
  Not having insurance does indeed mean you're using the ER as your insurance. If you believe that this obvious fact is not a fact, you should provide a reason for your belief.
  That you feel the appropriate remedy, for what you claim is a non-existent problem, is to repeal the law requiring ER treatment indicates that you do indeed believe people without insurance are using the ER as their insurance.
  A few of problems with this proposed remedy:
  
  It means that no one gets treated at an ER unless they can produce proof of insurance on the spot. This has serious implications for the health and safety of every American including the insured (though fine with the "Let 'em die crowd.)
  It vaporizes the favorite rationale of Republican politicians for why U.S. health care is just fine and dandy.
  G.W. Bush (2007): "I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.”
  Mitt Romney (2012): "If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care."
  It means that people without insurance actually will "just die".
  --
  Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
11. Re:Deluded ... by HiThere · 2013-12-04 15:00 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I'm not that old, and I was born during WWII.
  I can remember periods that were freer than now. But reports from the 1950s have convinced me that it probably wasn't any freer. (I was a kid, so I didn't notice.)
  History also doesn't treat my illusions of earlier freedom kindly. People being arbitrarily deprived for property, and occasionally their lives, because of race...well, SOME people were free, but others were much less free.
  What we have here is a corrupt government that can't be trusted, and is highly intrusive. (Those are three almost orthogonal factors...each undesireable.) The intrusiveness is incredibly strong, primarily because of technological factors. It's tremendously unhealthy for our traditional values. But if the government weren't corrupt, or could be trusted, then it would matter a lot less. (In that case it would be a potential threat rather than a believable threat.) But there have been times before when newspapers had their independence stifled by the government to a much greater degree.
  The new factor is that the ownership of the news is centralized. Reporters can't now trust their editor to stand behind them, because it's no longer his call. Now it's the call of higher management, that often isn't even interested in the news business, except as a way to push ads. And reporters know this, and if they don't, their editors do, and let them know about it.
  I no longer buy a newspaper, because I don't like paying people to lie to me. Similarly, I rarely listen to what a politician says...only watch what he does.
  
  --
  
  I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
American talk a big game when it comes to freedom by DontBlameCanada · 2013-12-04 07:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

... but their actions tend to contradict what they say.

Torture and the taking of political prisoners are touted as flaws of third world dictatorships and communists v. waterboarding, Guantanamo Bay and attempts to arrest Snowden and others who have taken a political stance they don't like.
Watching watchers by mrex · 2013-12-04 07:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

The other three out of four were too fearful of their survey answers being logged by the NSA...
Suggested Slashdot Poll by cervesaebraciator · 2013-12-04 07:51 · Score: 5, Funny

Have you ever self-censored a comment on Slashdot due to fear of government surveillance:

1) Yes. I wanted to share my improved tin foil hat design but fear that it might be compromised if it goes public.
2) No. I have nothing to hide and I'm quite certain that the shadowy government agencies spying on me are sufficiently restrained by secret and democratically unaccountable courts. They all have my best interests in mind.
3) I choose to self-censor this response.
Come to the UK and learn about real journalism by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-04 07:58 · Score: 5, Informative

Tell them to come to the UK and they can see _real_ journalism in action.
In America, you have Ferengi style capitalism and call it "freedom".
In the UK, we are certainly not perfect, but we also have capitalism, but with a social conscience, because we understand that in the long run, our way of doing things leads to more freedom for a greater number of people
We also have a habit of telling people who would harm us to go and procreate with themselves. In America, a few thousand people are sadly killed and you cower in terror and throw away everything which made you so respected.
In the UK, we have 7/7/2005 and then the citizens of London rode the tube in a large display of defiance sending a giant f***-you to the terrorists. Your journalists need to come over here and experience _our_ way of life.
Oh, and Edward Snowden, a true American hero, trusted a _British_ newspaper to reveal the truth.
That fact makes me proud to be British.
1. Re:Come to the UK and learn about real journalism by Spy+Handler · 2013-12-04 08:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Maybe it's time for you freedom-loving Brits to rise up and overthrow the tyranny of American imperialism.
2. Re:Come to the UK and learn about real journalism by mjwx · 2013-12-04 15:39 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Hey, isn't your capital city the one that's literally blanketed in high-tech surveillance equipment,
  Most of it is privately owned.
  
  You'll find the same level of surveillance in any city as you would in London if you included all the private cameras in the statistics. At least in London they have to notify you that you're being survived. I recently walked into an LA shopping mall and found 14 security cameras at the entrance.
  
  For all the cameras in London, nothing comes close to the abuses of the NSA. Cameras might accidentally catch you doing something, the NSA is actively looking for things to use against you.
  
  The same UK whose government is, right now, running your so-called 'free' press through the ringer for the Snowden disclosures?
  The UK is big on accountability, they're still dragging Newscorp through that very same ringer for the voicemail "hacking" scandal. The thing with inquests in commonwealth countries is that they're run by non political organisations and politicians have to accept the result even if it's the complete opposite of what they wanted.
  
  But lets compare this to the US government who has for years, conducted an illegal war started with fabricated evidence, imprisoned and tortured people including citizens of allied countries in secret prisons and on the subject of Snowden, has pretty much declared him guilty and sentenced him in absentia.
  
  As an Australian, in order to gain entry I had to provide the US with more information than I had to provide the Australian government to get a National Police Clearance or the Canadian government to get a work permit. In fact the US has been the only nation I've travelled to where I've needed apply in advance to enter or declare where I'm staying to the airline before I even get on the plane.
  
  So really, the UK looks like a bastion of freedom compared to the US (Despite the attempts of the Conservatives to ruin it and sadly, they're trying to do the same thing in Oz).
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Done their job in the first place by Bodhammer · 2013-12-04 07:59 · Score: 5, Insightful

Maybe if the so-called press had done their job in the the first place over the last 20 years we would be in this mess.

--
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
[DISPLAY OF GRATITUDE] by doctor+woot · 2013-12-04 07:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Man, this is some [GOOD NEWS]. I hope congress quits [WORKING TOO HARD FOR THEIR OWN GOOD], pulls their [HARD WORK AND COURAGE] out of their own [LOVE FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE] and finally [TAKES THAT PAID VACATION THEY ALL WELL DESERVE].
Stop it. by AndyAndyAndyAndy · 2013-12-04 08:08 · Score: 5, Insightful

Once again, you're plowing your way though the comments with a reckless lack of perspective. There's no need to run a police state in order to institute universal healthcare, expand education programs, or build on welfare mechanisms. Nor does running a progressive agenda inevitably give way to the construction of a police state. There is nothing inextricable about the two ideas, and as usual, you don't even attempt to back up your flamebaiting claim. Knock it off.

--
It's always confirmation bias!
Re:Government is too powerful by truthsearch · 2013-12-04 08:19 · Score: 4, Insightful

If your statement were true then Germany, Norway, Belgium, and lots of other countries would be police states. If you want to argue for smaller government you're doing it wrong.

--
Developers: We can use your help.
Re:American talk a big game when it comes to freed by ewieling · 2013-12-04 08:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

When I was growing up we were told some of the reasons the Soviets were so terrible is because people could not travel without "their papers", the Soviet government spied on its own citizens, the Soviets put people in secret prisons, the Soviets put people in prison without trial. Sounds a lot like the USA today. In the USA today these bad things seem mostly to be limited to "special circumstances", but they set a scary precedent. There are many great things about the USA, but pretending the bad stuff doesn't exist doesn't help the country, it undermines it.

--
I really shouldn't have used someone else's email address for this account.
Re:Government is too powerful by the+eric+conspiracy · 2013-12-04 09:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

Such links are drawn using logic like.. Hillary Clinton believes in educating children. Also Fascists believe in educating children. Therefore...
Re:American talk a big game when it comes to freed by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-04 10:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

The US has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the entire world -- and by a landslide. Either there is vastly more crime in the US than anywhere else in the world, or the system has been rigged to enrich the power elite at the expense of the common man.
Granted, incarceration is a step below murder, but the end result is the same for a man who deserves neither: x number of years of your life have been stolen from you, by way of violence (physical force).