How free is the Western media?

Question

How free is the Western media?

Answer 1

it's as free as the proprietors of the press allow it to be, e.g. rupert murdoch lets his newspapers follow whatever line they like as long as it is in line with his opinions, most newspapers are the same.

Answer 2

Not at all.http://www.constitution.org/pub/swinton_...

Answer 3

Here in UK the media is not as free as it would like us to believe and UK.gov (elected by the people) can and does pull strings whenever it feels the need.  In particular it holds the whip hand over the BBC and can make threatening noises whenever it feels like it.  The BBCs usual response is to toe the line.

The theory is that UK has an independent judiciary, an elected government and a free press.

.....duh!

So how-come the wishes of the people are ignored?  Not for a while, but for endless centuries!  There is no end to it and the corruptions just go on getting bigger and now the out of crontrol gravy train of the EU beckons. . . .things can only get worse. . . .

Answer 4

Well it is strange when someone from America states that it is liberal. From what I see of American television it appears that the TV media is  right wing. I would say hear in the UK most of the newspapers are right wing. The newspapers all have there own political agenda. It is lots of opinions & not facts. The TV news channals seem to be middle of the road with the BBC perhaps being more to the left. Yea the media is free to critisise but when it is polictically biased then you only see one side of the story.

Answer 5

I think you're all missing the point here. Media, certainly on a local level, isn't driven by a political agenda but a financial one. Editors publish what will sell papers - the more sensational the better. And if something conflicts with the advertisers (which is how papers make money, not the cover price) it will not go in the paper. I have a stack of letters and complaints on my desk about a famous car supermarket - but my editor won't publish them or let me write a story about it - because the car supermarket is our biggest advertiser. It stinks, but, at the end of the day, media is there to make money.

Answer 6

Not as free as we are lead to believe.  They aren't restricted by the government, but the media is dominated by liberals and the news is slanted in a way to reflect positively on their causes and to slight the right.  I believe there is all political pressure to keep some things quiet and to blow other things out of proportion.  JMHO