We have previously discussed the attack of President Obama on press freedom. As with the comprehensive attack on privacy, there has been little outcry from Democratic or liberal voters to the placing of journalists under surveillance or the treatment of reporters as potential criminals for receiving information from whistleblowers. Even those who express disappointment have not let these policies alter their continued support for the Administration. Many simply buy the White House argument that the other guys are worse. Well, international groups view the matter a bit more objectively and this month released a report that should be an utter embarrassment for every American. The United States — once the world champion of press freedoms — have called to forty-sixth in the world, according to the World Press Freedom Index. The drop is tied directly to the anti-media policies of President Obama.
The report notes that George Bush also cracked down on reporters but that the situation has grown even worse under Obama:
There has been little improvement in practice under Barack Obama. Rather than pursuing journalists, the emphasis has been on going after their sources, but often using the journalist to identify them. No fewer that eight individuals have been charged under the Espionage Act since Obama became president, compared with three during Bush’s two terms. While 2012 was in part the year of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 2013 will be remember for the National Security Agency computer specialist Edward Snowden, who exposed the mass surveillance methods developed by the US intelligence agencies.
The whistleblower is the enemy. Hence the 35-year jail term imposed on Private Chelsea/Bradley Manning for being the big WikiLeaks source, an extremely long sentence but nonetheless small in comparison with the 105-year sentence requested for freelance journalist Barrett Brown in a hacking case. Amid an all-out hunt for leaks and sources, 2013 will also be the year of the Associated Press scandal, which came to light when the Department of Justice acknowledged that it had seized the news agency’s phone records.
Due to these policies and actions, the United States dropped 13 places and is now ranked behind behind the former Soviet republics of Lithuania and Latvia as well as Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia (both the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Ghana, South Africa and El Salvador.
One could easily ask: how did we come to this? The answer is as obvious as it is shameful. We came to this place through the acquiescence or silence of many who refuse to oppose Obama despite policies that have led to repeated foreign military excursions, killing U.S. citizens on his sole authority, assault on privacy rights, refusal to investigate war crimes, and attacks on media and whistleblowers. As I have said before, there is a clear cult of personality surrounding this President that has insulated him from opposition by many Democratic and liberal voters. Worse yet, this silence has led to a massive increase in presidential powers that will continue beyond this President. He will leave a different system and a different country in the wake of his tenure. It will not only be difficult for many Democrats to criticize abuses in the future but even more difficult to regain ground that we have lost. The increasing national security and presidential powers asserted by Obama have become the new normal.
The report is a sad measure of our standing in the world. Obama had an opportunity to reverse many of the abuses of the Bush Administration. However, he chose to retain and expand on those abusive policies. Now the core rights that have long defined Americans — privacy and the free press — have been sacrificed with little more than a shrug of regret by Obama followers. For the first time, Americans must look at countries like Romania as example of greater support for press freedoms.
As I have previously discussed, our claims to be the world’s leader in civil liberties and constitutional protections is increasingly being challenged around the world. Indeed, the problems described in my earlier column on the “Ten Reasons Why The United States Is No Longer The Land Of The Free” have only grown worse. As our press and privacy rights fall, the White House continues to stress that we have to trust the President to do the right thing. As I discussed in another column, this is the very argument that the Framers warned us to reject as a siren’s call of every authoritarian in history.
So, in the end, I do not blame Obama who (like other leaders) has shown an insatiable appetite for unilateral power. I do not blame him for using his star power to distract from these policies. No, he merely demanded the powers but, to paraphrase Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear citizens, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.”
According to the president of the AP:
(Warriors Press For Propaganda – 4). Truth be known, the military propaganda engines where well oiled way before Bush.
It is quite ignorant to think one person can destroy the press, when the reality is the other way around.
What has destroyed the American Press is the military, specifically the military NSA:
(Blind Willie McTell News – 3). Even Chicago people know that the military NSA was doing their thing before Obama and Bush.
I thought that this was a fairly interesting perspective ….
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/266-32/22051-focus-american-terrorists-on-both-sides-of-war
Darren, the only problem is that in order to effect change (as I said above) the people in power have to be willing to listen to the people and these bozos aren’t inclined to do that.
JT: ‘As with the comprehensive attack on privacy, there has been little outcry from Democratic or liberal voters to the placing of journalists under surveillance or the treatment of reporters as potential criminals for receiving information from whistleblowers.’
And protesting this would accomplish exactly WHAT? Petitions would accomplish WHAT exactly? Such tactics only work if the people one is protesting and/or petitioning are willing to LISTEN to what the people want and are willing to act with the will of the people. I suppose that most people don’t understand the simple fact that Osama Bin Ladin WON and he continues to win every time you go to the airport, every time you write an email, every time you use your phone (cell or landline). The fact that his desire to disrupt the American way of life happens to coincide with the eager power grab(s) of Bush and Obama is serendipitous. This has been the goal of the 1% since Reagan. The opportunity came under Bush, Obama continued the trend and the next president will take us further down the road to being the New Soviet Union.
What we can do is for the American public to actually speak out and demand an end to these violations of our liberty. I mean in a big way.
Refuse to watch newscasts that are biased and supportive of these actions by politicians. (ratings go down, revenues drop)
Voters refuse to elect any politician who assists or turns a blind eye to insults to our liberty (too many politicians care only about their own position. If it is threatened, they often have a way of changing their points of view)
Somehow get the Supreme court to take pro-active action and put an end to these abuses of executive power.
In the immediate time we need to make a solid effort to dislodge this Cult of Personality with President Obama and the leave he is given to do as he pleases.
The reason the Democrats are called out in this article is the opposition is certainly opposed to the presidents actions but the Democrats are largely letting it happen by blind support. They are the ones who should be taken to task because it is pointless to try to get the opposition to rally because they are already against him.
The Democrats are putting themselves in a precarious position if the public decides they have had enough of the abuses of liberty. At that time the Democrats are going to be left holding the bag and are risking being the ones who will be blamed for the losses of liberty and freedom. That could end up being a long term pall that might take many elections for them to overcome.
But as long as people here are given their bread and circuses by our politicians it is going to have to take a crisis before the public wakes up to what they are losing.
I know a lot of people who work in the media industry and they say that what they are reporting on is trash. “It’s just trash that the american TV watchers love.” Most reporters in the local media do the stories they are TOLD to do. Only investigative journalists get to “choose” their own stories. However, they do not have the freedom to choose just anything. It has to be approved by management. All of the US television stations are controlled by 3 large corporations….and those corporations are not going to allow stories about anything that could jeopardize their power and wealth or the power and wealth of their super-wealthy buddies. So basically news is garbage.. except this site and a few others.
The question is…..what are we going to do???????????????????
Despite saying you “do not blame Obama,” I find it rather naive to discuss Democrats and Obama as the problem leading to the ranking. The rankings have been done since 2002 and the US has ranked as follows:
’02: 17
’03: 31
’04: 23
’05: 44
’06: 54
’07: 48
’08: 37
’09: 21
’10: 20
’11/’12: 47
’13: 32
’14: 46
During that time both parties have had the White House, Senate and House. This appears to be a bipartisan effort.
What I find amusing is that there are conservatives who think Professor Turley has now become one, lock stock and barrell. I suspect he doesn’t agree with many if not most conservative ideas. I continue to see much social liberalism in Professor Turley’s postings here. If I’m mistaken I’m sure he will correct me.
What else American expect from a guy who loves himself,narcissism ,egotism, selfishness all in his social mind.
Dear JONATHAN TURLEY…
After seeing you on KELLY FILE the other night … I can see that you are beginning to see “Obama And His Agenda” for the threat he has become.
A man with your intelligence should step up to the plate and start hitting a
few home runs for a country that is desperately in need of an awakening!!
The pen is mightier than the sword. I urge you to focus on saving America
Please help.
This is not to say that the Republicans are the answer, because I believe both parties are corrupt.
An alcoholic cannot recover without hitting bottom first. Millions of liberals had hit bottom before finally morphing into Reagan Democrats.
Obama is also a citizen and he is to blame for his reprehensible actions.
The places where people may speak freely and get accurate information are almost gone. Even the NYTimes says that information about the govt.’s misdeeds is “frozen”. Nothing is coming in because whistleblowers are terrified to speak out.
As citizens, we will have to create safe havens for speech and knowledge. I think this will have to be done in person and on the few blogs such as this, which allow comments.
It will be up to citizens to stop abusing people who criticize their dear leaders. The next dear leaders for Democrats will be Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. Stop that worship right now!
There are no saviors. This should be a citizen movement, not a movement led by left wing luminaries who are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing. If we learn nothing form the cult of Obama, that good people will commit and countenance horrible acts for the sake of their leader, then we will get no where in our society.
We are trained to look to leaders for orders and meaning. We follow and attack people whom we are trained to attack. This must stop. We are the only people who can make things right. I’m not certain if that can happen but it is a worthy goal and we should try.
Electing Libertarians will not be the best answer in this fight because they have a real blind spot. This govt. is a corporate/government amalgam. They won’t see this amalgam for ideological reasons. But corporations are as much a problem as the govt. Libertarians also often have a deep hatred for people who are poor. Thus, libertarians are not about social justice, something we need as a base of action. We need a deep longing for justice and we face an enemy which is both public and private.
The Amazing Randi, a magician, went directly after the highly educated phd’s in the parapsychology dept. of a university, when they offered a challenge that they could not be deceived. They were easily deceived. He did this because he wanted to show the people who most believed they were beyond being fooled, that they were easily fooled. He didn’t do this to be cruel and superior, he wanted them to understand something about themselves.
I’m asking people here who were fooled by Obama to learn something as well. THERE ARE NO SAVIORS. There are just people with a thirst for justice. If we work together, and forget the saviors, we may have a small chance.
Jill wrote: ” But corporations are as much a problem as the govt. Libertarians also often have a deep hatred for people who are poor.”
As an owner and CEO of a corporation, I respectfully disagree. I want as little to do with government as possible. There are some large corporations in bed with government, but corporations per se are not evil or part of the problem. I also fail to see evidence that libertarians have a deep hatred for people who are poor. I hope you don’t consider it hatred for the poor if someone believes that individuals and corporations should help the poor rather than government.
Reblogged this on The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource and commented:
A Must Read by Professor Jonathan Turley.
I went to the list to see all the nations, and I had to laugh since it is packed rather than being a good measure. It is good to see that such nations as Liechtenstein and Andorra score higher than the US, but I have to question even having them on it. How about Vatican City and the remaining part of the Papal State? I missed that one which would put the Catholic Church FAR down the list, well past the US. So I have a hard time taking this too seriously since it has such a gross bias with the UK ahead of the US. That is absurd since their LAWS are FAR worse than anything extent in the US which is a LOT more troubling than the use of the DoJ in the US to prosecute those who have actually committed a crime in disclosing classified information. Even Professor Turley has stated that Snowden and Manning committed crimes and argued in mitigation for sentencing, NOT their immunity. This list on the other hand posits that those two should be considered legitimate whistle blowers and should be exempt from prosecution. So one cannot decry the US for doing what is perfectly legitimate in any country, and use that to downgrade the US. GET REAL!
I just finished reading The Burglary, which I recommend, and even they edited out criminal investigations and other legitimate law enforcement investigations which would NOT be in the public interest to disclose. Neither Manning, and Snowden did such editing. Indeed, Wikileaks had to censor much of what Manning released since it was really an invasion of privacy on much of the information. Had Manning confined his disclosures to the actual war crimes, I think that a good case would be made to give him immunity from prosecution, but he went so far overboard, I have no problem with his sentence.
In regards to the Media burglary, the US is FAR above where we were back then, when the US was in most respects a police state and had very little freedom. So to take the sky is falling approach is not true, and while I am glad that a ruckus is being made, I don’t think it is correct to go overboard and say we are back where we were in the 60s and 70s.
We need Libertarians to take over the Republican party and put forward libertarian candidates who will correct these abuses.
I didn’t read about the methodology, but something’s got to be seriously wrong with it if the UK ended up ahead of the US. The UK forced The Guardian to destroy its computers and detained David Miranda and stole his electronic equipment without a shred of evidence of wrongdoing. A huge blackeye on the UK as far as I’m concerned.
Professor Turley:
Although I know you are not full on libertarian, you are certainly a full-on civil libertarian, hence your dislike for both Bush’s and Obama’s policies in these areas.
Do you not see that the next president, unless they are a libertarian, will truly double-down on the legacy of Obama’s civil rights and freedom of speech policies?
That is what you should be campaigning for now. Libertarianism is the only political policy that fundamentally opposes those abuses. All the other parties bow down to the principles du jour, they will take power where it presents itself for the taking, and the ratchet there only goes one way.
Well… Dontchaknow…. Obama…. Change you can count on….. He did say that he would change the course of the nation and reversing Bush’s actions….. I’m not sure which is which…..did Cheney clone Obama…. To make him a mini me…Bush….