Free Press? Not In The UK
Great Britain’s “conservative” government forced one of its largest newspapers to You must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
Great Britain’s “conservative” government forced one of its largest newspapers to You must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
5 comments
Is there a Free Land left on the planet?
Good thing it was all electronic files, you know hard to copy and otherwise transmit to other devices or hide on little thingys the size of your thumb. We’ll never, ever see any of these files surface ever again, for sure.
They’ve been open that it is a purely symbolic gesture. The “you’ve had your debate” bit is the one that should really concern people.
One of the safeguards that Britain has over U.S. — Had the Supremes ruled otherwise in Sullivan vs. the New York Times, I wouldn’t have such a problem, but the Fourth Estate (read: “Fifth Column”) can slander/libel “public officials” with impunity.
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The writers of the First Amendment never intended this – they merely wanted Ben Franklin to be able to issue his anonymous “broadsides” against anyone who supported the King.
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Like it or not, the Constitution is supposed to protect us from the Government – not from the “Yellow Press”.
The UK does not have the equivalent of our “Bill of Rights.” This was one major reason for the contentious debate over ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The promise of an enumerated “Bills of Rights” was essential to obtain ratification by NY, VA and some other states. In the UK individual rights grow out of the common law with some statutory additions. British rights are not based on the bedrock of a written constitution and are, or maybe I should say “were,” less firm and immutable than ours.