Is there really Freedom of the Press in the US?

Question

CNN, Fox news, NY Times &/or MSNBC, CBS News are all getting their political info from the politicians/advisers in Washington or from the people who use to work in Washington & still have connections their so who cares if there is Freedom of the Press because if they are getting most of their info from the Govt (or former) officials then the Govt. is essentially controlling the Press at least on all political issues.

So what the heck is the point of having freedom of press?

Answer 1

Americans should watch Al Jazeera to get some balance.

Answer 2

The First Amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791. The Amendment states:

'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. "


"The "War on terror" has been seen as a pretext for reducing civil liberties."

The Bush Administration have restricted civil liberties and created a "culture of fear". Bush introduced the USA PATRIOT Act legislation to the United States Congress shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks, which significantly expanded U.S. law enforcement's power. It has been criticized as being too broad and having been abused for purposes unrelated to counter-terrorism. Bush had also proposed Total Information Awareness, a federal program to collect and process massive amounts of data to identify behaviors consistent with terrorist threats. It was heavily criticized as being an "Orwellian" case of mass surveillance.

The government is systematically removing civil liberties from the population or engaging in racial profiling. This approach increases public hostility to dissenting voices by encouraging the view that such people are being unpatriotic or even treasonous for simply disagreeing with the administration.

Answer 3

No, not when almost all media outlets are controlled by a few corporations, which is why so many of us get our news from on line blogs.

To make matters worse the Federal Communications Commission wants to permit print media corporations to also own the airwaves!

Answer 4

There is no such thing in this country of complete freedom of press. There is even a number that if someone says or writes, they can be thrown in jail. Its exactly like you said, we get our information from the news, but the news gets their information from politics. Also if you do or say something wrong, you can be put on an FBI potential terrorist list.

Answer 5

Do you see any video clips of fighting and dying soldiers on the network news casts? Nope. How about anti-war protests?
What we have now is a a Neo-Con Pravada, all embedded, all censored! Liberal news media my ***!

http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/videolinks/videolink_354.html

Answer 6

It is limited.

Ever heard of Project: Censored?

They track rather biting and disturbing stories that got either limited viewings or were squelched from the get-go

Answer 7

the press doesnt just take info from the politicians and spit it back to us like they are relaying it. they dig for all the info they can and then shape it into a story. there is plenty of freedom. my beef with the press is how they like to spin what they find. and only report certain stories that fit their agenda.

Answer 8

Actually I think our media has been censored since 911..... Probably using national security as an excuse to do so.

Answer 9

I think you have to take what you can use and let the rest go in one ear and out the other. News should be fair and balanced. It's not!

Answer 10

Yes, there is.

If you are going to write about politics and government, where the heck do you THINK a reporter is going to get information?