As goes media freedom, so go democracies

Written by By Joel Brinkley Sunday, October 4, 2009

If we want to know if one's nation is truly democratic, one must check oneself's media. How does the nation treat the media? The article suggest that nothing so directly challenges a corrupt leader as an aggressive news media. The writer gives an example of himself that he was in Iraq during 2003, the beginning part of the war. When he was there, he could see many independent Iraqi newspaper and TV stations. But as time passed, the freedom of the press was taken away and journalists are threantened. The Iraqi government is suing and harassing reporters. In July, The Economist reported, police arrested a journalist for taking pictures of a typical, massive Baghdad traffic jam, saying the photos reflected badly on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's campaign to demonstrate that the quality of life was improving. Last month during September, about 100 Iraqi journalists had a protest of growing restrictions on their work, shouting: "No, no to muzzling; yes, yes to freedom!"

This news was interesting to me because this kind of rediculous thing will not happen in America. Who would dare to arrest a journalist for taking a picture of LA's or NewYork City's traffic jam? I guess if this report by Joel Brinkley is true, America is a true democratic nation. News medias are busy trying to disgrace political figures (like Fox news).