When it comes to the Constitution most people know only bits and pieces….like the 2nd and of course the first amendment…..the freedom press, religion and the freedom to voice your opinion.
For this post, because all overs have been done to death, I want to go with the Freedom of the Press.
Freedom of the press gives individuals and organizations the right to express, publish, and share information, ideas, and opinions without fear of censorship or government interference. It does not cover things like defamation, hate speech, and incitement to violence.
Who controls the media (that includes the press)?
Today, their impacts are more felt in our online news intake and media consumption habits. 37 years ago, 50 companies control the media in America. Fast forward to 2011, American news outlets are controlled only by 6 powerful corporations. Back in 2018, Jim Morrison, a singer, songwriter, and poet, who served as the lead vocalist of the rock band, once said: “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”
He was right. Today, Americans think they have an unlimited variety of entertainment and media options right at their fingertips. But it is all a lie. This illusion of choice was fabricated by the media elites. In the early 90s before the mainstream adoption of the Internet, the media landscape used to be simple and straightforward. Today, 6 media giants control a whopping 90% of what we read, watch, or listen to.
Objectivity in journalism is an illusion created by the elite class to give the appearance of balanced news. However, there is no such thing as unbiased news. Journalists who work for these six corporations answer to their owners and ultimately serve their agendas.
(techstartups.com)
I bring this up because of the mash-up between HAMAS and Israel.
****Please comment of the freedom of the press and not what you think of the sides in this battle****
Now on to the grits and the gravy of this post….
Early in 2003, Ashleigh Banfield was a star in the making. A rising journalist at MSNBC, she covered the opening stages of the Iraq War. Before that, she’d made a name for herself covering the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. Smart, pretty, highly skilled, she was heading nowhere but up. Until she gave an honest lecture on her experiences in Iraq and the Middle East on April 24, 2003.
I’ve written before about Banfield’s honest and heartfelt critique of Iraq war coverage in the U.S. mainstream media, which won her no friends at NBC News. In fact, the NBC brass sidelined and essentially exiled her. I recently reread her Landon Lecture at Kansas State University and realized NBC wasn’t just angry about her critique of mainstream media war coverage: they were likely even more incensed at how she humanized and empathized with Palestinians and other Middle Eastern peoples and groups, including organizations like Hezbollah.
If You’re a US Reporter, Anything but Rabidly Pro-Israel Coverage Is Dangerous to Your Career
The point is business dictates what journalists can report and the owners dictate the tone as well.
So is this really freedom of the press?
Not in my book.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Gulf South Free Press 
I doubt freedom of the press has ever really existed, except as an idea. The early newspapers were all owned by wealthy individuals who expounded their own points of view and agendas, and now the main TV stations are just like that too. I don’t expect that much from them, but it was sad to discover that the supposedly independent organisation of the BBC is also toeing the government line and reporting their propaganda blatantly.
Best wishes, Pete.
Bubba Clinton signed the bill that let corporations own the news…..chuq