Censorship and media

[Olivier]

Not really knowing the USA (except what is shown on European TV channels), I've got the impression that censorship is more present in the US than anywhere else.

In France, we have TV Programms which try to reveal what would remain hidden by politicians.

We have numerous examples of censorship in the USA - maybe due to our relative anti-americanism.

Recently the come back of the 1 300 (not sure of the number) corpses of american soldiers has been shown on French TV and was said to have been hidden to the Am people. As well as the numerous and massive demonstrations which took place all over the world against the war in Irak.

Seymour Hersch (sorry if there is a mistake at his name) - a famous (apparently) investigating American journalist - was interviewed by a French reporter and said how difficult it was to try to tell the truth on Am media.

Lack of freedom of speech is a real problem. How do Americans consider that problem ? Is the French opinion exaggerating the problem ? Maybe censorship is as present in our country as in the US without noticing it ?

Olivier

[Mekorig]

Its not a problem of lack of free spechh in the USA. The problem is that a lot of TV and news corporations didnt want too be knowed like a "left tv channel" and side whit the oficial message. Others seek political and economical gains like FOX, and totally embrace the oficial stance. Still exist the free spech in the USA, you dont get cencored whiout a very serious reason (calling to make bomb attacks, kill people, etc), but i would say that the reach of a unbiased info is dificult in the USA TV.

[Olivier]

You mean that they all want to think as the governmnt does ?

The expression "left TV channel" is interesting : in the USA, there seems to bee no left-wing party (remains of the cold war?).

The most right-winged french politicians are lefter than the most left-minged am politicians.

[bathory]

its funny, but the right call most of the news networks left biased, while the left say they are biased towards the right...

noone wants to claim the networks:)

CBS seem pretty left leaning to me *cough*fake bush documents*cough*

Edited January 24, 2005 by bathory

[Mekorig]

You mean that they all want to think as the governmnt does ?

The expression "left TV channel" is interesting : in the USA, there seems to bee no left-wing party (remains of the cold war?).

The most right-winged french politicians are lefter than the most left-minged am politicians.

462183[/snapback]

I dont know if the USA politicians are soo right wings...i doubt. Certanly you have right wings die-hards, dont i dont thiks everyones are.

And for the CBS: I think they try a long shot and fail miserably. Soo, they purge the goats heads, but the tarnish remains. And i dont consider that left wing media. An example of left wing media: The lots of corruption investigations under the Menem administration in Argentina in the 90´s, where the journalist and some of the media make serious investigations and open a lot of worm cans.

And yes, its funny how the right wing call the media leftist, and the left call it right wing in the USA. At least, for what i have read online, and what i see by cable, i have see a midly to high side rate whit the oficial speech. But its my opinion, and i must live in the USA to make a more responsible and serious opinion.

[twinstead]

I would submit that the media in France could be considered biased against the US, therefore may be just as bad as the American media is.

Bias is bias. Maybe good things about the US are being censored because it is probably bad politics in France now to mention anything that the US does right, just as bad things the US does is sometimes censored from the American media.

Just a thought.

[Thanato]

There is little free press in the US, sure some storys get out, But during Bush's second thing (dont make me spell it lol) most news agencys tryed to sub out the protestors and get in the Pro Bush people, They didnt report much on the Protestors iether.

CNN, Fox, all these news channels spew out American Propiganda and dont do any real reserch. I trust NBC more then CNN, but i trust CBC more then any other news agency in North America.

U dont see the PAtriot Act 2, or the other bills that will limit american freedoms being reported on much do you?

America News is cencord.

~Thanato

[Fluffybunny]

I think that every country has a degree of censorship over certain things. In my opinion the US has serious problems with the government telling the truth of the matter(Or the whole truth), and often the truth doesn't come out until much later.

Of course I do not think that the US is any different than any other country. The governments job is to stay in power and therefore puts much effort into maintaining that control by hiding it's actions from the public that put it there in the first place.

The pictures of the US caskets was a very good example. About half of the people in the US are supportive of the war in Iraq, but yet they have no idea of what the end results are for our US soldiers or the citizens of Iraq killed by accident.

The US news that so many consider liberal left wing news organizations may go as far as saying as there is a problem in the war, that it is turning into a "quagmire" or that the insurgency is gaining strength. It appears that any news org that gives bad news is "left wing". Conversely, conservative news organizations tend to give a brighter view of what is going on in Iraq. The prettier side of the war. The new school house being built or that water treatment plant that has been restored.

Neither side tells the whole truth.

Absolutely no one dares to show the whole truth.

No one shows the horribly injured kids in Iraq; or the badly burned soldiers in pain or with blast wounds that have remove an appendage. The war is just a thing that is happening on the other side of the planet and the people here have no idea of what is actually going on, and it seems that they do not want to know. They either assume that it is a war like the movie that they have seen where guys get shot and die instantly with a degree of grace and dignity, or they do not think about it at all.

I personally think that the US media(As well as the world media) should show the whole truth of the matter good and bad. I think that people should have to see the horrible carnage that iraqi citizens live with on a daily basis; the stuff that the soldiers are having to deal with, all in living color without pulling any punches.

After having seen human beings blown to pieces, scattered in front of me like a side of beef, I am much more hesitant to want to go to war to resolve problems. I think long and hard about how badly we might need to go to war. Sometimes we don't have a choice in the matter, but I would much rather have the US citizens fully aware of the results of the war when they start making up their minds of the situation.

Everyone has a bias, there is just no way around it.

[panther10758]

I find the way to get closet to TRUTH is by watching both CBS and FOX they sit on opposites sides and if you look somewhere in the middle you will find The Truth or something at least close!

[Irish]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was Churchill who said "The first casualty of war is the truth"

[panther10758]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was Churchill who said "The first casualty of war is the truth"

462277[/snapback]

You are correct sir

[Mekorig]

Sadly..yes.

[Irish]

Thanks Joc

Very sad but true. I grew up in N.Ireland and spent a lot of time in the UK and Canada. The same story can have many different perspectives depending on where you are and where the story is being presented from.

[Olivier]

I would submit that the media in France could be considered biased against the US, therefore may be just as bad as the American media is.

Bias is bias. Maybe good things about the US are being censored because it is probably bad politics in France now to mention anything that the US does right, just as bad things the US does is sometimes censored from the American media.

Just a thought.

462227[/snapback]

Unfortunately, you're right. Mistakes from the US are very welcome on our channels.

Even today, the action towards S-E Asia (even if we agree that the US do a good job) is often considered as propaganda. I hope, there is more than propaganda in their involvement.

[Chris_com28]

Have you heard of Ralf Abra who ran for president but was hardly ever mentioned in the elections? The media seemed to do everything in their power to leave him out of the election. Their explanation for this was some circular argument about him not having enough media coverage.

I saw it in a documentary about spin so I would need to find outmore about it. It had some interesting content though quite a lot of it was satilite streams of mundane conversations held "off camera". There was one stream where there was a speach of some kind and people asked a protest banner to be removed. There was also a satalite tour where a photo of a president (really can't remember right now) was removed from the background because it showed him in a bad light.

No one shows the horribly injured kids in Iraq; or the badly burned soldiers in pain or with blast wounds that have remove an appendage.

Well noe of the mainstream media shows it. Probably because it's too disturbing for most people to watch. They did kind of show some bloody senses here in Enlgand and told of the abuse. So how is it different in america? I keep hearing how it's so badly censored and most of the corruption isn't shown or if it is is shown once and then just ignored.

[JackBauer]

I think censorship is definitely worse here... not just on TV but even on music. Everything has to be edited... now, the FCC or whatever analogy the group is are being nitpicks and editing out the smallest of curse words. Its really bad that as time goes on, the censorship gets worse

[Chris_com28]

So you live in the US? I hate the way censorship is heading. Before Homer Simpson could mention pornography but since it was moved to Channel 4 (and advetised the hell out of) his mention of it has been removed. Why? It's hardly going to send some 10-year-old into a porn enduced frenzy. Oh look it's on Channel 4! Yeah, it's a lot better than that stupid BBC 2. I mean they didn't have breaks. If we didn't have ad breaks to help us digest the information already shown in part one then by the time part two comes along we'll be like a sack of potatoes.

Also now people can't say the word "sperm". How the hell is a sex education class going to work!? The man inserts his [blank] into the womens [blank] and microscopic [blank] swim into the [blank]. And that is how [blank] works. But to be fair they do have fundamentalists Christians telling you condoms don't work and it's much, much better to just go without, so if by some weird twist of fate they give in to their inate urges they'll do it with the freedom from rubber and get pregnant anyway.

Did you see this program on Channel 4 about all these banned music videos? There was one with a man who kept getting runover by cars, which is obviously symbolic,but not so obvious to those that wanted it banned. He stopped getting run over when he stood up and took the impact of the car. She the metaphore there? Now if anyone takes that literally then they should be watching it from the safety of a mental institution.

Wow, censorship is pretty [blank] up.