Freedom of the Press?

When one talks about freedom of the press in the United States, anyone would tell you that those who write for newspapers or talk on T.V. or the radio can freely express what they want. People say that, even though they know it isn’t true. In every medium of communication, the owner has the last say on what gets published. The owners set the limits and if a journalist dares to step outside of them, he will find himself on the street.

The limits can be narrower or wider, according to the desire of the owners. Certain journalists spend their entire life affirming that they have the freedom to express what they please, but these same journalists know very well where the limits are. All of the freedom that they possess to express their opinion is regimented by the editorial line of the company where they work. Don’t be silly and think that there are no limits set for them. If they are not explicit, they are implied. Everyone knows how to play with the string and not touch the monkey.

Here in Miami, some journalists gloat, saying that they enjoy the freedom to express their ideas. Of course, their ideas are the same as the owners of the companies they work for, and they know perfectly that, if it wasn’t that way, it would be impossible for them to work in that city.

But it isn’t only in Miami where such things happen. Mainstream media, national and international, is governed by the motto “Here we publish what the owner says.” When the leaders of mainstream media want to create a campaign in favor of defending one of their interests, they create it and repeat until everyone agrees with them. Similarly, when they want to silence certain news, they simply throw it in the back drawer and leave it buried there.

For example, the case of the five Cuban men serving long sentences in U.S. jails has been completely ignored by the U.S. press, as well as major international media. The same media are always quick to criticize Cuba for any small thing that happens, or for anything that the media invent to discredit Cuba and its people.

The five Cuban men were unjustly sentenced to long prison terms for seeking information about possible terrorists acts against their country. Has there been a campaign in the media that talks about the freedom of the press to denounce the injustice that has been committed? No there hasn’t. Silence has prevailed in the press.

Last weekend in California state prison, Pelican Bay, approximately 200 prisoners ended a hunger strike that more than 1,000 of them began on July 1 protesting the horrendous conditions of the prison. Some of them spend up to 23 hours a day in soundproof cells with cement floors and no windows.

Did the mainstream media echo the protest of those being imprisoned in conditions worse than those of animals? The answer is no. No media in the U.S. said a word since the beginning of the hunger strike. Not only that, but independent journalists barely knew about the conditions of the strikers, a group that appears to have refused to be fed with a nutrient serum, according to the occasional prison nurse. Until the end of the protest, prison officials denied access to everyone who tried to get permission to talk directly to the prisoners.

If the major media of the U.S. were to begin a media campaign to demand direct access to the information, surely the authorities would have agreed on principles to let them talk with the prisoners. But as this was not very important to mainstream media interests, the campaign never existed, nor did the information about the events that occurred in this prison. Those who fill their mouth claiming freedom of the press, become very quiet when the events are against their interests. Freedom of the press? Nonsense. It exists just like fairies from children’s stories.