America’s proud moniker of ‘Leader of the Free World’ is slipping fast
into the recesses of increasingly authoritarian and secretive government.
The World Press Freedom Index, issued by the Watchdog group Reporters Without
Borders, ranked the United States at a dismal No. 41 out of 180 countries –
putting it just barely in the top quarter of nations, which itself was
actually an ‘improvement’ over the past year.
That is a far cry from the perceptions that most
Americans have cherished, and politicians have so frequently touted in
televised speeches.
The U.S. has lost a lot of ground in such rankings over the course of the
past several years of repression in the post-9/11 world and in particular
with the clamp down and persecution of whistleblowers, and the journalists
who enable them.
According to NPR:
The U.S. is ranked 41 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without
Borders’ World Press Freedom Index,
which measures the “level of freedom of information in 180 countries.”
Citing the U.S. government’s “war on whistleblowers who leak
information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operations,
especially those linked to counter-terrorism,” and the country’s lack of a
“shield law” that would allow journalists to protect confidential sources,
the report takes a decidedly negative
view of U.S. press freedom.
[…] as NPR’s Sam
Sanders has reported:
“[Obama’s] Justice Department has cracked down on reporters in an effort
to prevent leaks; it also set a new record for withholding access to
government files under the Freedom of Information Act (despite calling for a
“new era of openness” on his first day in office);
Basically, every major Western democracy ranked ahead of the U.S. in freedoms,
and the overall trend is in decline, and a lack of respect for the rights of
photographers, citizen journalists and even credentialed press – particularly
when asking inconvenient questions with real substance.
[…] The group’s U.S. Director Delphine Halgand says in the report that
there is still “room for improvement in the country of the First Amendment.”
The reaction to leaks by Edward Snowden, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning
and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange have epitomized this, but
there have been many other whistleblowers who were ignored and mistreated.
Former CBS investigative reporter Sheryl Attkisson was harassed by a host
of alphabet agencies who hacked her computer and let it be known that her
reports on the scandals of the Obama Administration would not be welcomed. Michael Snyder wrote:
Let’s review what has happened to former CBS News reporter Sharyl
Attkisson. She was an award-winning journalist for more than thirty
years, but that didn’t stop the Obama administration from systematically
harassing her. In her new book entitled Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth
Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s
Washington, she makes some extremely startling claims. She
believes that the harassment and intimidation that she experienced were the
direct result of her determination to get to the truth about Benghazi, Fast
and Furious, the green energy scandals and Obamacare. The following are
some of the main points that she has been sharing with the media in recent
weeks…
-While she was working at CBS News her computers were hacked by
the government, her keystrokes were monitored and potentially incriminating
classified material was planted on her hard drive.
There are many more cases, but most of them never
make the news, and some are difficult to confirm or report on.
The point is that our rights are slipping away, and the system itself is
becoming more entrenched with corruption, and more secretive by the day.
Moreover, it has become sophisticated about its branding and image – Obama
appears jovial and friendly towards the ideas of democracy, but in substance
his administration has not respected the First Amendment, and obviously not
the Second, nor the Fourth Amendment, or due process.
Of course, the most dangerous agencies, like the NSA and CIA, stand above
any president, and carry on actions that undermine the rights of Americans as
a matter of course, and readily use national security as a pretext to
steamroll over the Bill of Rights whenever they get the chance.
Things will only get worse from here unless the core issues are dealt
with.
Read more:
Obama Harassing His Media ‘Enemies’? “Whoever is doing this
has extremely advanced technical capabilities”
New Study Confirms: “The United States Is No Democracy… But
Actually An Oligarchy” Dominated By The Economic Elite
National Guard Whistleblower: “Doomsday Preppers Will Be
Treated As Terrorists”
Former Breitbart Reporter Receiving Death Threats Over
Revealing Obama’s ‘Fake’ Past: “Ever seen a photo of a pregnant Michelle
Obama?”
When Is It OK To Tell The Truth In America?
