Freedom of the press?

Scott Leffler · Guru

Freedom of the press?

Paper Tigress · Veteran Member

Although we are guaranteed a free press, we don't really have one. Too much of the media is either censored altogether, or slanted, which can be just as devastating.

There are very few extreme examples of when censorship should be allowed, such as reporting your location from the front lines of a war (Rivera, you dumbass). Otherwise, every thought an author puts to paper should be open to the public. The government should have no say in what is or isn't published, because one of the founding reasons for having a free press was to allow open criticizing of the government.

Some feel that stories with secret sources should not be published. That's a fair opinion. Someone should be held accountable for the facts in every story. Otherwise you could print a paper full of lies and simply cite nameless entities. But if they're going to deny publication of every story with a protected or confidential source, then I want to see everything the government has deemed secret. Even certain items classified because of national security should be held under scrutiny, since that Top Secret label has been used to hide all manner of government transgressions. Take the JFK assasination for example, those records are sealed for another 30 years. Why? I want to know about the Roswell landing, the Iran/Contra affair, the real story behind 9/11, everything. Remember, we're the government, it's all our stuff. We paid for it. It's not an 'us vs. them' situation. It's a 'we the people' mentality we should be basing our decisions on.

mike of the mountain · Senior Member

this type of reporting described below can not be allowed to go unpunished - people have died because a liberal turd ran his fingertips without verifieing the truth [again] even if this was true a responseble reporter may have decided to sit on it knowing the possible consequences .

The Associated Press

May. 16, 2005 - Newsweek magazine, under fire for a publishing story that led to deadly protests in Afghanistan, said Monday it was retracting its report that a military probe had found evidence of desecration of the Quran by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.

Earlier Monday, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan had criticized Newsweek's initial response to the incident, saying it was "puzzling."

Newsweek had reported in its issue dated May 9 that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

Newsweek acknowledged problems with the story and its editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized in an editor's note in this week's edition. The accusations spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured.

Whitaker wrote in an editor's note that "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst."

But after the White House criticized Newsweek's response to the story, Whitaker released a statement later Monday through a spokesman saying the magazine was retracting the story.

"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," Whitaker said.

kspeer · Senior Member

Newsweek had reported in its issue dated May 9 that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

Was it the whole book? Cuz it's pretty big and wouldn't fit. Or did they rip the pages out one at a time.

I'm sorry but I cannot relate to the people in Afghanistan killing eachother in riots over a story in a magazine. Didn't anyone ever tell them not to believe everything they read? I know that our beliefs and values are vastly different in this country, but come on! Sounds like they will take any excuse to riot and kill eachother.

Dovey · Senior Member

quote:
Originally posted by: kspeer
"Newsweek had reported in its issue dated May 9 that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Was it the whole book? Cuz it's pretty big and wouldn't fit. Or did they rip the pages out one at a time. I'm sorry but I cannot relate to the people in Afghanistan killing eachother in riots over a story in a magazine. Didn't anyone ever tell them not to believe everything they read? I know that our beliefs and values are vastly different in this country, but come on! Sounds like they will take any excuse to riot and kill eachother."

Thank you ...you made me laugh....I needed that

jspeer · Guru

I think they misunderstood. I don't think they meant to say the Quoran....I think they meant to say a crayon because they saw brown streak marks on the toilet. Sorry about the misunderstanding Afghan people. I read it in the Enquirer....It has to be true!

-- Edited by jspeer at 08:53, 2005-05-17