Tags
This is shameful.
The new 2016 rankings – compiled every year by Reporters Without Borders – show the UK is now ranked a worrying number 38th in the world for press freedom:
The rankings are compiled taking into account the following criteria:
- Pluralism (the degree to which opinions are represented in the media)
- Media Independence (the degree to which the media are able to function independently of sources of political, governmental, business and religious influence)
- Self-censorship
- Legislative Framework
- Transparency
- Infrastructure
- Abuses (acts of abuse and violence against journalists and media)
To illustrate what the problem may be, the European section of the report concludes:
“The continent that respects media freedom most seemed to be on a downhill course.”
“Media ownership by conglomerates with a wide range of business interests has long posed a threat to journalistic independence, but the threat is growing and is endangering the European model.”
So there we have it, in a nutshell.
In the UK especially, we’re confusing press freedom with the freedom for a handful of powerful press barons on behalf of a wealthy elite to do what they like.
.
Please feel free to comment. And share. Thanks:
Pride's Purge 
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
LikeLike
Shocking!
LikeLike
Pingback: Press freedom: UK ranked below Tonga, Belize and Ghana in new report | Pride’s Purge | Jay's Journal
This blog is extremely insulting to the citizens and media in Tonga, Belize and Ghana. I lived in Belize for many years and I’m extremely proud to say so. If you have any actual criticisms about our media or government then you should make them plainly. Otherwise if you don’t know what you’re talking about then you should shut the **** up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mr Thomas Pride has picked probably the 3 least white countries to denigrate. Why?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Why on earth did you chose to include Ghana in that triplet, why not Lithuania?
It would have been so much wizer to just have stated that UK came in at position 38.
LikeLike
Thank you for this post Tom. We have a major problem brewing in this country.
Im giving the benefit of the doubt that there was no bad intent behind your choice of countries in your posts heading.
The post itself and its actual message is so important. We cant just watch the news anymore and trust it. Freedom of the press had been something that the UK prided itself on and now its been entirely high jacked. For example the demonisation os the sick and disabled, of which I am myself, 8 months ahead of drastic and cruel benefit changes. A case of the press being used to change public perception so that there wouldnt be a massive outcry when they implemented their policies. It backfired a touch as people are really angry, although coverage of this is kept to a minimum (even when there is a rally happening outside the Houses of Parliament), but it is a good case in point.
Many thanks
A hassled, demonised, two wheeling member of the UK!
Xxx
[Thanks for the support Akasha. I’ve heeded the criticism and included Lithuania in the title] – TOM
LikeLiked by 1 person
What’s wrong with Lithuania? I love Lithuania, a country I have been involved with since 2003. A country which impeached a president (something that the UK didn’t do to Blair); a country which with Latvia, Estonia and Poland who citizens stood unarmed against the Soviet army (some died) which resulted in the collapse of Communism is worthy of respect, not the malignant criticism of our gutter press.
LikeLike
Heeded the criticism? If you think it helps to add Lithuania to the list of countries you’ve insulted then you obviously didn’t even comprehend the criticism.
Try apologizing……
[I was actually trying to be nice and diplomatic. But you’re right – diplomacy doesn’t work. So f*ck you. This is what I think of sanctimony: https://tompride.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/lazy-sanctimony-the-damaging-disease-of-the-left/%5D – TOM
LikeLiked by 2 people
[Thanks for the support Akasha. I’ve heeded the criticism and included Lithuania in the title] – TOM
—————
BUT, why have you left Ghana on the list – for goodness sake, just take all the names away, and simply state that UK came 38th.
Denis Healey’s 1st Law of Holes states :
”When you find yourself in a hole immediately STOP digging.”
You are seriously damaging your credibility, in my eyes at least.
[You seem to have confused me with someone who gives a flying f*ck what you think. To avoid any further misunderstandings on your part, I can assure you – I don’t: https://tompride.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/lazy-sanctimony-the-damaging-disease-of-the-left/ ] – TOM
LikeLike
Well done Mr Pride a reply in the proud tradition of Bernard Manning who when taken to task after a stream of filth and hate directed at any one or group who he didn’t approve of would claim that it was satire, and the person who was protesting couldn’t take a joke.
The fact that you too have descended into that mode makes my point very well.
When you calm down, perhaps you’d care to complete the following well known phrase which applies to your last posting:
Foot Own Soot*
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooops Shoot*
LikeLike
Difasaid:April 21, 2016 at 8:12 am
Heeded the criticism? If you think it helps to add Lithuania to the list of countries you’ve insulted then you obviously didn’t even comprehend the criticism.
Try apologizing……
[I was actually **trying** to be nice and diplomatic. But you’re right – diplomacy doesn’t work. So f*ck you. This is what I think of sanctimony: https://tompride.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/lazy-sanctimony-the-damaging-disease-of-the-left/%5D – TOM
————–
** Tom must try harder !
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
This is chilling, and an absolute disgrace. Just to show how low we’ve come in the amount of freedom given to our press, one of the countries ranked higher than us is Latvia. This is a country that every year holds rallies in honour of the country’s freedom with former Waffen SS veterans. It’s horrendous that this country should prize press freedom, and the necessity of including a variety of voices and opinions in the press, less than one which honours the memory of the Nazis.
Mr Pride points out that this is due to the ownership of vast newspaper conglomerates by a very few press magnates. This is undoubtedly true, and was predicted at least a quarter of a century ago. I can remember going to a Fabian Society meeting, at which one of the speakers was a member of the National Union of Journalists, about this very subject. She recommended giving worker’s control and complete editorial freedom to the newspapers, to prevent them all presenting the same political bias. She was right, and this has just born out her point thirty years later.
LikeLike
[Thanks for the support Akasha. I’ve heeded the criticism and included Lithuania in the title] – TOM
——–
[Thanks to Twm Sion Cati for his suggestion as Lithuania is one of the three countries immediately ‘above’ UK in the list.]
=======
Tom Pride writes:
”Please feel free to comment. And share. Thanks:”
And then adds to postings he doesn’t care for :
”So f*ck you. This is what I think of sanctimony”
And
”You seem to have confused me with someone who gives a flying f*ck what you think. To avoid any further misunderstandings on your part, I can assure you – I don’t:”
——-
Can this be classed as Cognitive Dissonance, or just plain hypocrisy in this context ?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t know about cognitive dissonance, but Tom Pride has proved to everyone that he is a primitive, ignorant and abusive man. What’s even worse, he’s also proved that his ability for political analysis and discussion is naive to non-existent.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sara Ahmedsaid:April 22, 2016 at 7:54 am
”. What’s even worse, he’s also proved that his ability for political analysis and discussion is naive to non-existent.”
——
This is common for many of the self styled libertarians who hail from the Right of politics.
Their liberty is often that of the Free Market;and Neoliberalism.
Their freedom is to be able to exploit others, not in the name of a particular ideology, but one of personal greed and avarice..
The original ”Pride’s Purge”, however viewed now thru’ the lens of hindsight, was carried out in the name of the people, and to purge Parliament of the drones and autocrats sucking the life blood out of the country to fuel their extravagant, immoral and, even for the laws of those times, illegal activities.
That THIS Mr Pride has hijacked those words is in itself a call for a Purge.
A purge of his mis-use of those words, and their place in the history and development of our democracy..
LikeLike
I’m surprised Russia wasn’t ranked number one in this list.
LikeLike
A valid piece spoiled by Mr Pride’s unnecessary insults to some of his commenters’ equally valid criticisms.
[Bollocks] – Tom
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trolling your own site is a rather novel idea but not to my taste.
I have often visited your site and found it informative, but I will avoid it in the future as people like you give the alternative media a bad name. I hope you recover your sense of proportion soon. Please learn to show some respect to other journalists – such as myself – who are busy attempting to change things.
Fighting the corporate media is hard enough as it is, without people like you giving us all a bad name.
[I’m not a journalist. And fairly certain I don’t give a f*ck whether you visit my site or not, but just let me check.
No … I’m right. I don’t.] -TOM
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like other journalists I visit many blogs and internet sites in order to research articles. As this article is not composed of your own original material, quite obviously, you do the same. When I was younger, I used to travel to do more ‘on the ground’ research.
Though I have not been in declared war zones – I am not a war correspondent as the experience would scare me to death – I did travel through Eastern Anatolia in the mid to late 1980s when there was a real risk of being kidnapped by Kurdish tribesmen. Instead they offered me nothing but hospitality. We drank, ate, sang, and once even danced together, as was their custom. Sometimes, they took me far away from the relative safety of towns and cities, yet I was always treated with greatest respect. Quite a few other Westerners didn’t have the same luck.
As now, a number of those tribesmen were fighting for independence, risking torture and death in pursuit of that aim. Heavily-armed government forces and secret policemen were everywhere. In Malatya, one Kurdish fighter told me how he had his fingernails torn out while undergoing interrogation.
My point is that despite their very real problems, at no time did they stoop to insulting me in the course of my research, yet you think you’re smart swearing at commenters from the safety of sitting at your keyboard. You’re not.
You need to develop a very tough skin when you write, as taking criticism is part of the job. The criticism you have received for this piece is mostly valid and constructive, as there seems to be a racist element to the way you have presented the information contained. It appears to me to have made a genuine mistake that has offended some readers enough for them to point it out. Not always as politely as they could have, I admit.
Considering the piece is a criticism in itself, your reaction has been that of a spoiled child.
The fact the article is about journalism gives me the right to criticise the way you have framed the list. Given its importance, you have nullified that importance to an extent.
Whatever you think you’re doing – or not doing – many readers will see your work as representing alternative media journalism. The corporate media will be only too willing to use this type of behaviour as an example of why the alternative media needs bringing under government control, which sort of destroys the very point you are trying to make. Remember, you are writing about press freedom here, and freedom brings with it responsibility.
Of course, on your site, you are entitled to respond to in any way you see fit. But when you enter the world of journalism you become a journalist, and you can’t run away and hide behind a barrage of profanities just because you don’t like something someone says.
You may not care about what I say but I care very much about writers who bring the alternative media into disrepute.
Get used to being criticised like most of the rest of us have to. Without us you would have very little to write about.
As you yourself begin: “This is shameful”.
Now let’s see if you really believe in press freedom enough to let this reply stand as it is (without adding an offensive footnote) or whether you decide to ‘moderate’ it altogether by removing it.
[Bollocks] – TOM
LikeLike
Bravo. Bravissimo, Bryan Hemming.
And thank you for voicing so many of my thoughts far better than I could have done.
Coincidentally, I traveled in eastern Anatolia in the early 1970s, and whilst things were not quite as ‘Hot’ as they were when you were there, my companion and I were met with similar kindnesses and respect.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bryan Hemming – Clearly with Tom Pride it’s a case of ‘pearls before swine’, but thank you for your effort.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pingback: newshoundsnewsround
@ Tom Pride.
I hope you’re not questioning the truth of my account, as that’s going a step too far.
By the way, I resent the fact you interfere with comments in the way you do, as you put yourself at an advantage you don’t afford your commenters. Most blogs enable a reply button to make a clear distinction between the comments and any replies by the author. This is not Twitter.
The way you do it causes confusion, and is called editing, as you are altering people’s comments. Even worse, you’re doing without informing them. At times you do it in a way that almost amounts to censorship.
The fact you keep leading myself and other commenters away from the subject is the definition of a troll. How about dealing with the underlying racism that was perceived in your piece? Originally, I saw it as an innocent mistake, but now I’m not so sure. You appear a touch too sensitive to the criticism, and far too defensive.
I’m becoming increasingly suspicious that you don’t really understand the accusation. You chose three countries from the 37 placed above the UK. It couldn’t have been an entirely random choice as it didn’t have to be three. So you must’ve had a reason or two for picking that particular three. As one commenter pointed out, it wasn’t necessary to pick any. The list shows all the information needed. So it was a conscious decision you made. We are entitled to ask why you picked them, and so are the citizens of those countries. That’s what comments sections are for. Nobody forces you to have one.
Let’s remember, all 37 nations were rated above the UK, and that was the only fact readers needed to know. So why do you seem to imply we should’ve expected those particular three to have been rated below the UK, as opposed to all the others? Was it simply as clickbait? Do you see where we’re going here? I don’t care whether you answer me or not, I do care that you didn’t think to ask yourself those questions before posting. While you’re at it, ask yourself why you’re acting so aggressively now?
[Your self-important sanctimony is starting to get boring now. Do me a favour, f*ck off to someone else’s site. And get a life … ] – TOM
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mr Pride, your misuse of your Editorial facilities are as repetitive as Soft Machine’s ”(H)e did it again.”, and a lot less entertaining and original.
LikeLiked by 1 person
To Bryan Hemming, Twm Sion Cati and others – I’m afraid you don’t understand why Tom Pride has a comments section. He isn’t interested in, or capable of, political discussion. The section is here solely to enable his ego to be massaged by his small group of regular mindless sycophants. Such comments are always allowed to remain, no matter how ridiculous. Critical comments are deleted, altered or met with abuse. I wonder which of those options will happen to this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tom Pride – You let my message remain only because I gave you no option, but you have deleted all the messages which supported or corroborated it.
You are not a man of principle.
[I delete people for one reason and one reason only – for the unforgivable sin of being boring. Keep up this whining and whinging on and on endlessly about nothing and you’ll be well on your way to being deleted too. So do me a favour and fuck off to someone else’s blog to bore the readers there. Thank you.] – TOM
LikeLiked by 1 person
You think incessantly telling people to fuck off is interesting???
Try actually countering the criticisms of your political views if you dare.
[It’s not criticism of my political views. It’s sanctimonious whinging. But you’re right. Too many f*ck offs. So – bollocks to you] -TOM
LikeLike