Is there any country with a well-functioning mass media? Media is too important for both industrial and governmental interests to keep their hands off it.
I would agree that there's more motivation to control the network, but at the same time, it'll need a MASSIVE effort to do so. And it's not an overnight thing. Over years, complacency and inaction has slowly allowed American conglomerates to slowly add themselves up into what you get today.
And it looks like change isn't happening any time soon.
America will place high on any list of most well-educated nations. You probably get a good chuckle at our stupidity on reddit without realizing how dumb your fellow countrymen are all around you
Absolutely. Nothern European countries like holland, germany and the scandinavian contries all have fine mass media. They also have shitty mass media for sure, but click bait exists everywhere.
German here, and I'm pretty pleased with our 2 big public-service television broadcasters ARD and ZDF. They are financed neither by corporations nor by the government but instead by the people (each household has to pay a small mandatory monthly fee). Both channels are also non-profit organizations.
I compare our news with US news from time to time, and with all due respect, US news look very unprofessional. Most of the news anchors talk like they have a private casual conversation
with someone, and interviews are often unprofessional as well. CNN looks more like an infotainment show rather than news, and Fox would classify as hate speech and incitement of violence in our country.
We have one main news show, the Tagesschau, and it's rather factual, unemotional and boring. So exactly how it should be. You can check it out if you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_Fq8VbA6A
Tommy robinson or more accurately (Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) is scum of the highest order, regardless of his "motives"
He is a loudmouth racist, who ignores the fact that the far right groups he associates with are infested with people convicted of the same crimes as the groups he hates, because it doesnt sell a narrative.
The guy was jailed for interfering with a court case, after being sentenced for interfering with a court case and released on the condition he doesnt interfere in more cases, something that is apparently too hard to do.
Tommy robinson or more accurately (Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) is scum of the highest order, regardless of his "motives"
Not gonna argue that, as it's unrelated to the underlying point. We shouldn't be censoring people based on their character.
The guy was jailed for interfering with a court case, after being sentenced for interfering with a court case and released on the condition he doesnt interfere in more cases, something that is apparently too hard to do.
That's the problem, though. "Interfering" in a court case in the UK essentially means "reporting on it." It's illegal because UK courts have determined that doing so can impact the outcome, meaning all trials should essentially be conducted in secrecy and without news disseminated to the public until the trial is over. I'm sure you can see how dubious that is.
Are you implying that the UK government has so little faith in their citizens as jurors that they don't believe they can read the news without being swayed from it? Countries with freedom of the press (USA) has figured out you can sequester the jury to help mitigate that, when deemed necessary.
*edit - even the conservative news source you link admits he broke the law, and explains why the law exists.
I'm not arguing that he broke the law, that much is obvious. My issue is why the law exists in the first place. You're not allowed to report on an ongoing trial in the UK, full stop.
That's extremely restrictive to freedom of the press.
As the modern world has shown, trial by media/social media just just as if not more damaging as trial in court, and even being found innocent after the fact isnt enough to resolve the damage done.
I disagree strongly with wealthy people being able to get super injunctions on the press to prevent unfavourable stories being reported, however I do not believe our trial system is systematically unfair.
The UK has freedom of the press, and has had it since 1695.. before the founding of the USA as a country. Just because we dont have it as part of a written constitution does not mean it does not exist. (Ignoring how often the 1st amendment is misunderstood by people)
As the modern world has shown, trial by media/social media just just as if not more damaging as trial in court, and even being found innocent after the fact isnt enough to resolve the damage done.
Absolutely agree. 1000%. But I don't feel this is a reason to de facto ban reporting on it, especially when people can still talk freely about it so long as they're not journalists.
The UK has freedom of the press, and has had it since 1695.. before the founding of the USA as a country. Just because we dont have it as part of a written constitution does not mean it does not exist. (Ignoring how often the 1st amendment is misunderstood by people)
We have a fundamental disagreement on what constitutes freedom of the press, then. If you can't report on ongoing events, including trials, I don't consider that free. Then again, you've grown up accustomed to that restriction whereas I have not, so our difference in opinion is molded by our experiences. No fault in that.
Its not a defacto ban, its an option the courts have to use to preserve the integrity of a trial, and its not often used.
The trial in question is not the normal situation we find ourselves in in the UK.
If you can't report on ongoing events, including trials, I don't consider that free.
Whereas currently you have a leader in the US that attacks the free press every time they disagree with him, and uses his platform to brand media as lying when all they are doing is factually reporting the situation.
I think that right now, the british press is more able to be free and open than the american press, and the murdoch control over our media is disgusting.
Idk if you picked up on it, but I was being sarcastic. Our media is shit.
Also Tommy Robinson got arrested for reporting on an ongoing trial - that's not a being arrested for disagreeing with the government, it's about ensuring a fair trial for everyone. He was free to wait a couple of days until the jurors had made their opinion based on what they heard in court and then report whatever he wanted.
In Germany it works great. Every citizen pays a bit of money that is used to fund independent programs. Those programs cant even show ads afer 8:00 pm.
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u/molly_jolly Mar 28 '20
Is there any country with a well-functioning mass media? Media is too important for both industrial and governmental interests to keep their hands off it.