US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gave an address to the Conference of the Americas on World Press Freedom Day May 3 that failed to mention Julian Assange, an Australian national currently held prisoner in Britain and fighting extradition to the US on charges of revealing state secrets. He also omitted mention of an FBI raid in the US on a journalist associated with Project Veritas, which specializes in recording verbal admissions that embarrass the powers that be.
Only a few weeks ago United States prosecutors unveiled charges
against a Chinese national for an attempt to pressure a former pro-democracy protester out of running for the US congress.
Instead, Blinken criticized the censorship activities of the Chinese and the danger to journalists covering the Russian/Ukrainian war.
The Chinese response is as might be expected: China’s embassy in Washington rejected Blinken’s criticism as “an attempt to pressure China with unfounded allegations”, which “exposes the US side’s hegemony, bullying and double standard on media and press freedom”.
Media censorship by government has been and remains an issue throughout the world. It is perhaps less problematical in the US because the Yankee media is, for the most part, an extension of the government itself. In fact, it's notable that many of the most prominent figures in American media are family members of government officials.
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