A story in the Daily Mail - “US Falls to 47^th in Press Freedom Ranking”,,,

Complains that the US “authorities” suppress the reporting efforts of those trying to cover the Occupy movements and therefore the freedom of the press, the first item in our Bill of Rights apparently was discarded, at least in the opinion of the Paris based organization, “Reporters without Borders.”

According to the story:

The country with the freest media in the world was Finland, followed by Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Austria. Eritrea was last, with North Korea just above.

Interesting choices, countries not known for big outdoor demonstrations where riots break out rank highest in freedom of the press, even though many don’t guarantee that in their constitutions.

So My first question to the “reporters without borders” where; On those arrested (more likely detained) covering the Occupy activities.

• Were they participating in those mini riots?
• Were they also inciting people to act in an illegal manner?
• Were they participating in the illegal activities to incite other “occupiers” so they could embellish a story?

If the answer is "yes", then in my opinion, they lost some of the credibility to be called "reporters." In the 60’s, there were numerous events that were later found to have been staged by TV camera people so an demonstration would seem bigger (or smaller) and make better video on the TV.

I really do support the idea that news people should be protected while covering a public event, but at the same time, they shouldn’t be trying to make a story bigger by inciting people around them to do something outrageous.

And active participants can’t be called “reporters” just because they say they are. Sending tweets from an occupy event doesn’t count, even if the guys doing it think they deserve protection from being arrested for doing something illegal.

Every time a "Progressive gets" arrested for doing some illegal, they claim “Freedom of Speech” and “Freedom of the Press” as the reason they were doing what they were doing. Those freedoms are there to guarantee that a story will get out without government censorship.

They were not intended to allow law breakers a pass when they get caught.

Maybe they need a course in J School to teach the future journalists the difference? Naw, these guys wouldn't take that course anyway.

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Here is the Link to the Original Daily Mail Story

And the full link if you need to copy it to read it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091948/U-S-falls-47th-press-freedom-rankings-Occupy-crackdown.html#ixzz1kbaXnZEb