U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011

[Iterate]

Source: U.S. Department of State

"The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 - May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.

The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age."

Read more: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/12/152465.htm

---

No, just beyond the known horizons of irony.

[derby378]

1. Took the words right out of my mouth

Like the old saying goes, a journalist is entitled to her own opinion, but not to her own facts - or any official government list of facts, for that matter.

[elias49]

2. Oh, how appropriate.

I wonder where Julian Assange will be in May.
I hope he's still a top news story. It would provide great counterpoint to World Press Freedom!
:sarcasm:

[truebrit71]

3. Holy Irony Batman!!!

:eyes:

[RKP5637]

4. Welcome to The Twilight Zone! n/t

[truebrit71]

5. I'd laugh my arse off if Assange won the Freedom Prize...

...What a joke..

[Kali]

6. ...

:spray: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

gotta be a hack of an onion article!:crazy:

[Iterate]

11. I spent 10 minutes on the site looking for fraud, phish, or satire,

and still can't believe it.

Well, I hope they have a good turnout.

[Frisbee]

7. You just blew my mind! n/t

[bongbong]

8. The real meaning of the "press freedom"

"You are free to print anything we tell you that you can print"

[kgnu_fan]

9. Our government has no sense of shame or ability for honesty

[kgnu_fan]

10. Make this into a mass protest against hypocrisy of USA government

[Iterate]

14. Shush, let them lock in the arrangements first.

[kgnu_fan]

26. woops, sorry, shush...shhhhhhhhh....

[bbgrunt]

12. hahaha. Good one!

[TheWatcher]

13. Since our own Media is beginning to make Pravda look radical and the pinnacle of openness and

Transparency,

The Irony could not be more succinct.

[saigon68]

19. LOL K & R

[nichomachus]

22. The only difference between the US media and Pravda

Everyone involved, including the readers, knew that Pravda was shit. It was a joke.

A vast majority of Americans believe the crap they're fed by the media.

[kgnu_fan]

27. Actually Pravda English sometime has great articles, written by writers from London...

John Pilger once said ...

<snip>
Ironically, I began to understand how censorship worked in so-called free societies when I reported from totalitarian societies. During the 1970s I filmed secretly in Czechoslovakia, then a Stalinist dictatorship. I interviewed members of the dissident group Charter 77, including the novelist Zdener Urbanek, and this is what he told me. "In dictatorships we are more fortunate that you in the West in one respect. We believe nothing of what we read in the newspapers and nothing of what we watch on television, because we know its propaganda and lies. Unlike you in the West. We’ve learned to look behind the propaganda and to read between the lines, and unlike you, we know that the real truth is always subversive.
<snip>
Real information, subversive information, remains the most potent power of all—and I believe that we must not fall into the trap of believing that the media speaks for the public. That wasn’t true in Stalinist Czechoslovakia and it isn’t true of the United States.
<snip>

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/8/7/freedom_next_time_filmmaker_journalist_john

[nichomachus]

29. Now -- not then

[kgnu_fan]

32. We are left behind....

[Kaleko]

15. LOL

[Amonester]

16. New Frontiers, New .. barriers... !!

Well, they don't look that "New" to me (and to millions of free press advocates in this world of the New Oligarchs).

"in environments Sometimes hostile to such exercise of individuals"

is this a poney show?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

17. This is from The Onion right?

[emilyg]

18. So funny. Irony.

[Uncle Joe]

20. This has got to be a sick joke.

Thanks for the thread, Iterate.

[Deep13]

21. Saudi Arabia to host World Women's Rights Day. nt

[Donnachaidh]

23. Can we wear our WkikLeaks T shirts?

:wow: :rofl:

[kgnu_fan]

28. with everyone wearing V's mask???

:bounce:

[kath]

24. A country who ranks something like 33rd in press freedom is hosting this?!?!!

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

[slay]

25. What a fucking joke.

a sad, sad joke. :(

[KamaAina]

30. Who did we beat out? China?

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

40. Burma and North Korea?

You can't make this stuff up!

[Catherina]

47. Saudi Arabia n/t

[Ghost Dog]

31. www.state.gov ... yeah, right.

:silly:

[downeyr]

33. IRONY! n/t

[marasinghe]

34. yea; kind of like the nobel peace prize, way back to kissinger & beyond. n/t

[pmorlan1]

35. What a sad joke on all of us

I agree with Glenn Greenwald. You can't read this press release without laughing out loud. What a Joke.

[krabigirl]

36. Your comment says it all.

[sarcasmo]

37. Kick, for the almost onion like header.

[Odin2005]

38. War is Peace! Ignorance is Knowledge! Slavery is Freedom!

[EFerrari]

39. I hope Hillary Clinton is the keynote!

[kgnu_fan]

41. It actually makes me angry

[Arugula Latte]

42. What a fucking joke.

[Angry Dragon]

43. Obama is going to win another award

[Dash87]

44. To quote Greg Giraldo (RIP),

"That's like Michael Vick hosting a convention for the ASPCA!" :)

[Nihil]

45. "beyond the known horizons of irony"?

That is so far beyond them that it renders most attempts at humour totally impotent.
:wow:

[harun]

46. I love The Onion!