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Just a few years ago we had Trump banning certain media outlets he disagreed with from the White House. Or the UK government attacking hard disks at the Guardia
by zarzavat 5y ago
Just a few years ago we had Trump banning certain media outlets he disagreed with from the White House. Or the UK government attacking hard disks at the Guardian with an angle grinder. You could say that neither of these governments are “democratic”, but then it becomes somewhat of a no-true Scotsman argument. We have to accept that control of the media happens in democracies. It’s not as bad as in Russia, but it is an overt goal of many democratic governments, and many media outlets go along with it in the name of access.
- richardw 5y agoHe could ban it from while White House but not from your house. It’s not control like where you go to jail, it’s minor influence over very few selected places. Every elite seems to want to cement their power and we have to combat it, always. But democracies in general don’t have “control” in any way recognisable to Russians, Chinese, North Koreans. In South Africa we had the most corrupt shit going on and the media drive politicians nuts. There’s some doublespeak and us/them but that’s just humans for you. In Russia those journalists would be dead or in exile. 30 years ago in SA we had some of that. Incomparable to political influence over media in a democracy, which is typically only over part of it. Not all. Besides you don’t need to control the media. That’s far too much work. Just have an alternative that your tribe prefers. It seems you can make up any shit and a lot of people will take it as gospel.
- HWR_14 5y ago> Just a few years ago we had Trump banning certain media outlets he disagreed with from the White House He tried. Then those banned reporters went to a judge and he told the White House to let them back in. And they were let back in. The US press is free.