Freedom of the Press

[utunumsint]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering - does freedom of the press mean politicians can never criticize the media?

God bless,
Ut

 

[Murmurs]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering - does freedom of the press mean politicians can never criticize the media?

God bless,
Ut

I don’t see that it should. Freedom of the press is, at least in my eyes, sub-category of the broader right to freedom of speech: nothing and none - politicians and the media included - should be above criticism.

Doing my best not to refer to any people currently holding significant public offices who seem to take issue with this sacrosanct idea, if you seek to hold politicial office you must be prepared to scrutiny by the media, which means not all coverage of you will be favourable. Similarly media organisations probably ought to be withstand legitimate criticism of their coverage.

All that said, I think one shouldn’t just dismiss all unfavourable coverage as ‘fake’ (especially when there is such a sheer weight of evidence to the contrary), and there is a limit between defending your position vis a vis the press, and at least giving the impression of attacking the right of the media to investigate things and expose corruption and other scandals.

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

Criticism is fine. Trying to silence the media is not.

 

[dshix]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering - does freedom of the press mean politicians can never criticize the media?

God bless,
Ut

Of course not. It just means that the government should never impose legal sanctions or restrictions upon media due to things they say.

Individual persons, such as politicians, may say anything they like, at their own risk.

 

[Deconi]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering - does freedom of the press mean politicians can never criticize the media?

God bless,
Ut

Simple answer - NO!

Where the press adopts an opinion side or opposing perspective to another, ANYONE can challenge, correct or confirm that opinion!

 

[JonNC]

Criticism is fine. Trying to silence the media is not.

Correct. Ask James Rosen.
What concerns me is the movement to “protect us” from fake news, and “protect us” from “deniers”.

 

[utunumsint]

Thanks for your responses.

I had heard a new reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Association (CBC) who stated that in her opinion, politicians have no right to comment on press articles.

The context is this: she had written an opinion piece that has highly critical of Quebec French culture. There is a large separatist movement in Quebec that would like nothing more than to separate from Canada. Obviously she received criticism from all quarters, including criticism from the standing premier of the province. In addition, she received threats, hate mail, poop on her doorstep, and so on. Not a nice experience.

In my opinion, she is wrong about the premier not having the right to criticize negative articles. Having said that, the threats and poop on the doorstep were not acceptable either. But it isn’t as though the premier is the one who wrote those comments. Perhaps his harsh response may have instigated such acts though…Thoughts?

God bless,
Ut

 

[Deconi]

Thanks for your responses.

I had heard a new reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Association (CBC) who stated that in her opinion, politicians have no right to comment on press articles.

The context is this: she had written an opinion piece that has highly critical of Quebec French culture. There is a large separatist movement in Quebec that would like nothing more than to separate from Canada. Obviously she received criticism from all quarters, including criticism from the standing premier of the province. In addition, she received threats, hate mail, poop on her doorstep, and so on. Not a nice experience.

In my opinion, she is wrong about the premier not having the right to criticize negative articles. Having said that, the threats and poop on the doorstep were not acceptable either. But it isn’t as though the premier is the one who wrote those comments. Perhaps his harsh response may have instigated such acts though…Thoughts?

God bless,
Ut

The challenge for Government officials is to be RESPONSIBLE with their opinions and be aware and MINDFUL of the effect of what they say or posit…given they have a ‘duty’ to the collective wellbeing of their populace. They should differentiate their personal opinions from that of their constituents and expressly state so.

This position is heightened for Premiers of each country.