The U.S and the Freedom of Speech definition in the Arab world
The definition of freedom of speech to the average American citizen: Is the right, as stated in the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content.
U.S Media Censorship
The censorship of the media by the the U.S.A is not a new tactic, the media have been always censored by the American administration, and a good example for that is the fact that the U.S army was more than once on the verge of bombing the Aljazeera news outlet headquarters in Qatar (a US Friend).
In the eyes of the US. military and administration, "if you do not broadcast our propaganda then you should not broadcast anything against it, otherwise you'll be our enemy."
All you have to do to verify the above equation is to look at the number of journalists killed by the US. Army (and co.) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Media Censorship Worldwide
The US is not the exception, the media censorship is worldwide and varies greatly from a country to another ...
In the U.S.A. some subject can never be aired on main networks or stations but can be freely discussed on small stations.
In France the concept of freedom of speech itself is debatable, ex:
In Many countries in Europe certain subjects can not be discussed and certain opinions can not be expressed, some are even outlawed and can lead to prison, for example:
- Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland.
In the majority of the remaining countries and specially the developing ones the Freedom of speech is a vague concept, where Journalist can be imprisoned or even killed for voicing this or that opinion. The stations can be easily shut down if they do not comply with the will of the rulers.
US law for censorship
the US Congress passed a bill in December that imposes sanctions on satellite channels deemed hostile to the United States.
The bill, adopted by a massive 395-3 majority, calls for punitive measures against television networks in the Middle East seen as fueling anti-American hatred. It asks President Barack Obama to report in six months “on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East, and for other purposes.”Al-Manar TV is the Hezbollah TV channel which is on a list of terrorist organisations announced in December 2004 by the United States. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and its key Middle East ally "Israel", although the Shiite movement is a major political party in Lebanon.
“Freedoms play a big part in Lebanese life and media freedoms are evident in its pluralism,” Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri said. “We insist on media freedom and reject of any restrictions on it,” said Mitri.
So to sum it up, failing to stop Channels that broadcast information hostile or critical to the US, the US have decided to go after the medium they broadcast through (the satellite operators), in other words to kill a worm on a tree they are ready to burn the entire tree.
Long live the Freedom of speech submitted by Anas
