[chudogg]

Am i to get this right? Europe has hate speech laws (which will probably soon come here) in which you can't publicly make comments slandering certian races, promote nazism, fascism, etc. Some countries actually have laws which make it illegal to slander homosexuality. How in the hell do they get greater freedom of the press?

Finland and Iceland could score high because they have no natinoal secrets. Stopping a reporter from taking notes on nuclear weapons secrets or planned invasions in foreign wars doesn't really apply to freedom of the press.

The Palestinian National Authority scores higher than Israel? Havent they been known to execute journalists.

I am not familiar with Reporters Without Borders but they are obviously pushing an agenda, and this report is a total hackjob.

Sorry if the index is confusing, click on the link to see the original.

[Drango]

HA HA HA Good one, but you should list this as coming from the Onion.

[Redcloak]

As I recall, one can be jailed in Canada for writing the wrong things. (It's usually goofy Holocaust deniers who get nabbed, so no one pays much attention.)

[Austin Willard Wright]

The high ranking for France is nonsense when one considers the recent prosecutions for anti-Islamic speech. We have nothing like this in the U.S. though some PC folks would certainly like to.

[lews]

These people are morons! IRAK????

[dfwgator]

In Haiti (106th), journalists are targeted by informal militias whose actions are covered by the government.

But...but...I thought Bill Clinton fixed Haiti when he installed that defrocked priest.

[dfwgator]

More like "Reporters without brains."

[OldFriend]

I have rarely seen a more worthless post.

[dirtboy]

Am i to get this right?

It's actually a survey of the freedom of the press to promote liberal positions - and the United States has been downgraded because sites like FR and bloggers detect and refute the liberal lies as quickly as they happen...

[Hodar]

The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings.

Let's see, protecting informers who either have committed crimes, have stated an intention to commit crimes, or are presently committing crimes is a felony. Why should a reporter be exempt from being a party, when you or I would also face charges? And as far as crossing security lines, why should reporters be exempt? Apparently reporters are a higher, more evolved form of humanity (or so they would have us believe).

[denydenydeny]

except for Italy (40th), where news diversity is under serious threat. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is turning up the pressure on the state-owned television stations, has named his henchmen to help run them and continues to combine his job as head of government with being boss of a privately-owned media group

Think anyone in this group might draw a conclusion that maybe state-owned news media is not a good thing? Nah, of course not, the proper conclusion is that capitalists should never be permitted to run a country. Glad we've settled that.

[Bogey78O]

It's skewed by the One-gov't crowd. Those countries for one-gov't get higher marks.

[Libs R Evil]

More than anything this poll (and that's mostly what it is, not an objective assessment) just reveals the leftward bias of media.

America is more free of course, but we're not socialist enough

And of course the press hates Israel, because of their pseudo-oppression of Palestinians (I mean the Palestinains are "weaker" therefore they MUST be oppressed right? /sarcasm)

[Lysander]

They failed to mention that under Clintax our government targeted a TV station in Yugoslavia because we did not like the content of their broadcasts.

[prisoner6]

This is so funny I didn't want to reply! Scandanavian countries have a law regulating taking pictures. It even affects webcams, something dear to my heart.

While I >MAY< agree our freedoms are being chiseled away daily, the US is the ONLY country on the planet where Freedom - REAL FREEDOM - still - for the most part - RULES!

I'm going to email a good friend in Espoo Finland toinght and pass this along. I'll post his response. I'll bet he will strongly disagree!

prisoner6

[prisoner6]

This is so funny I didn't want to reply! Scandanavian countries have a law regulating taking pictures. It even affects webcams, something dear to my heart.

While I >MAY< agree our freedoms are being chiseled away daily, the US is the ONLY country on the planet where Freedom - REAL FREEDOM - still - for the most part - RULES!

I'm going to email a good friend in Espoo Finland toinght and pass this along. I'll post his response. I'll bet he will strongly disagree!

prisoner6

[Doctor Stochastic]

What does the scale mean? Is the difference between 1st and 23rd bigger or smaller than the difference between 24th and 46th? Does having a "Official Secrets Act" mean the same thing as having a "Murderous Rebel Movement"?

[colorado tanker]

Ought to rename them Reporters Without Brains.

[Verginius Rufus]

The situation is especially bad in Asia, which contains the four worst offenders - North Korea, China, Burma, Turkmenistan and Bhutan.

Four? Math is not their forte.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

my thoughts exactly on the speech laws. What B.S.

[July 4th]

This study is crap. In nearly every country on that list, including many ranked above the US, you can be prosecuted for saying certain things. France and Canada are prime examples.