Where is the Freedom of Press?

As normal citizens, we always complain about our governments, but still, we trust them. Or, you may say, you never trust the government, you trust the media. In some cases, there is no big difference between the two. You trust media, but when the media is controlled by, or is working for the government, you finally have to trust the government. As you know more about the relationship between media and government, you’ll find it harder to believe in the freedom of press.

I always complain about my government not doing good enough with respect to the freedom of press. During some period when sensitive political issues arise, Facebook might be blocked, some specific foreign websites would be blocked, and we are not allowed to access certain key word articles or bulletin boards. Through the suppression of potentially adversarial information, the Chinese government tries to limit our access to information it doesn’t want us to know.

However, it seems that governments all do the same thing. Even if the government allows us to access all information, we might not be able to determine the truth.

We get all of our information from media and trust it because we trust the freedom of press. We believe that the independent press will bring us the truth. So we feel angry when reporters tell us what terrorists have done; we feel excited when reporters say “the president finally decided to start the war”; and we even feel happy when reporters tell us how many buildings were successfully bombed every day. But we forget to ask some important questions: Where did media gain the information? Who are the media reporting for? Is it really independent press?

“War Made Easy” implies that our media is working for the government. Either they have decided they have to work for the government, or were trained to see things from the government’s viewpoint. They rely on government for the information; they might even be boycotted if they don’t obey the government’s direction. Under such a circumstance, can media offer independent press? Can we see the truth of what’s happening in the world?

Media are just tools of the government to help deliver its propaganda. When government wants our support, media will remind us how much our life quality has been increased, and how much effort the government had made; when government wants us to support a war it has decided to engage, media will tell us how urgent it is to help people in the other country to gain freedom and democracy, or how many weapons have been developed in that country.

We have a lot of things to complain about with respect to our governments, but we still trust them, partially because we have been told that there is freedom of press in our countries. What shall we do after we discover all governments are the same, and the freedom of press is largely a myth? We can only see through our eyes, hear through our ears, and most importantly, think from our own point of view.

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