World Press Freedom Index

World Press Freedom Index for 2017 has just been released in conjunction with the Press Freedom Day 03. May: https://rsf.org/en/ranking

Norway is on top, followed by the other Nordic countries.What happened to that self-proclaimed bastion of press freedom, USA? It can be found at 43rd place, just behind Burkina Faso, but beating the Comores.
(UK is #40 and France #39)

What kind of biased/communist/fascist (take your pick) organization issue this kind of BS index??
Reporters without Boarders, based in Paris, France, that is who: https://rsf.org/en

We lost the first place thanks to our prime minister. I didn’t even vote for him…

Because the only smart and honest people on the planet are in Norway and I honestly don’t give a fuck.

1 Like

You lost me there; What/who/where is RWB???

No there are Norwegians and Norwegian descended people all over the world, incl. in USA. Infact there are more people claiming Norwegian ancestry in USA than there are ethnic Norwegians in Norway.

But why should you give a F*ck about press freedom in other parts of the world?. You have been told you can rely on the free, unbiased and self-financing American media to tell you the truth and nothing but the truth at all times, totally independent of advertising $$ and political influence.
Besides you can depend on Mr. Trump to tell you what is “fake news” in a tweet in the wee hours of the morning.

PS> There is a major chapter of RSF in USA: https://rsf.org/en/us-chapter

1 Like

The acronym is RSF not RWB.But you are right, I should have seen that relation.
When I googled RWB I got only something about Porsche cars: http://rauhwelt-usa.com/

As for deciding what is fake and not fake news, I use my own judgement, not Trump’s, Soros’s or anybody else’s.

That’s pretty simple, fake news is either satire or made up as click bait.

What most people call “fake news” today may be poorly reported and it may have a bias (sometimes a severe bias) but it isn’t fake.

I cannot imagine having more press freedom in the US. It’s important and we have plenty of it. I would like to see stronger liable laws li the US like in the U.K. And in Europe.

Yes I know the meaning, but the acronym is RSF in any language.
If Soros is funding them he is not alone. Maybe he is hiding behind one of these organizations,or NGOs?: https://rsf.org/en/our-supporters
What do you have against Soros anyhow? He is a good Capitalist who nearly brought the Pound down.

There is also official propaganda sponsored by Governments and some unofficial propaganda issued by political parties, or special interest organizations, not to mention by intelligence agents in various disguises.
When “biased” become “fake” is a matter of opinion. Today’s popular definition is; If I don’t like it, or disagree, it is #FAKE NEWS. BAD!

Ombugge, thank you for bringing this up. I found it was very interesting to carefully review the site (English version) https://rsf.org/en/. Being a natural skeptic, I looked closely at the methodology, the supporters, and the administrators. I’m sure that there are some that have agendas in the roster, but I did not see any “smoking heads”. Obviously, there is a large degree of subjectivity to an undertaking of this nature, but it is never claimed otherwise, and the results are significant.

1 Like

No I’m not surprised, most Americans appears to believe they have the most, if not the ONLY, free press. Not so apparently. It depends on how you define “free” I presume. If you mean freedom to write anything and everything they want, without consideration to facts and who they insult, I believe yours is VERY free.

I also agree that to have strong libel laws is a good thing. Having watched the way American politicians behave towards each other, and what is said about them in the media and late night talk hows for many years, I’m surprised that anybody wants to be a politician.
Having lived for many years in Singapore, with VERY strong libel laws I can also see the other side of the coin. A happy medium would be nice.

2 Likes