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"Ecuador has a woeful record on freedom of the press. It is 104th in the index of world press freedom" US is ranked 47th. This effectively puts Ecuador in the
by wes-exp 14y ago
"Ecuador has a woeful record on freedom of the press. It is 104th in the index of world press freedom"
US is ranked 47th. This effectively puts Ecuador in the same category as the US. Look at the color codes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index.
Just because Ecuador isn't perfect hardly precludes it from trying to do the right thing in this instance.
- tptacek 14y agoThe RSF full press freedom index isn't color coded. There are 57 countries --- 1/3rd of the entire survey --- in between the US and Ecuador, including several liberal European countries. This is a flimsy argument.
- wes-exp 14y agoWell, it is color coded on wikipedia. Further, a gap of 1/3 might not be very significant if the scores are closely packed. Also regardless, stack ranking is known to be bullshit. Ask any current or former Microsoft employee :)
- tptacek 14y agoThe scores are not closely packed. Not only that: the US was #20 on the World Press Freedom Index in the survey immediately prior to this one, and lost places due to municipal arrests of journalists covering Occupy. The idea that the press freedom situation in the US is comparable to the press freedom of a country in which the ruling party seizes television stations, jails the owners of newspapers for allowing the publication of unfavorable columns, and levies $2MM fines against book authors is far past ludicrous.
- wes-exp 14y agoI'm not saying the press freedom situation is comparable... Reporters Without Borders is. Maybe their index is total nonsense. I would readily believe that. However, in the absence of better data, I'll take the word of an organization dedicated to the issue, over your opinion.
- tptacek 14y agoRSF is not saying that. Your argument is innumerate and, in suggesting that "I'm not saying the US and Ecuador are comparable, RSF is, and I'll take their word over yours", illogical.
- tedunangst 14y agoWhere do those color codes come from? The Reporters Without Borders map puts the US and Ecuador in different colors. http://en.rsf.org/IMG/jpg/carte2012.jpg http://en.rsf.org/IMG/jpg/carte2012.jpg
- wes-exp 14y agoI honestly don't know where the wikipedia ones come from. On the map you've linked to, they are different, but only by one.
- tedunangst 14y agoOn the map I linked to, Finland and Ecuador are only different by two.
- lttlrck 14y agoThe color-codes do not denote categories...