Freedom House drinks anti-Israel Kool-Aid

[shira]

Last edited Wed Apr 27, 2016, 06:27 AM - Edit history (2)

***This is Press Freedom.
***Israel is still a Free country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/04/26/freedom-house-drinks-anti-israel-kool-aid/?postshare=8871461715780375&tid=ss_tw-bottom

.....The report downgrades Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, one with a vibrant range of media choices, from “free” to “partly free.” The report alleges, “Israel declined due to the growing impact of Yisrael Hayom, whose owner-subsidized business model endangered the stability of other media outlets, and the unchecked expansion of paid content — some of it government funded — whose nature was not clearly identified to the public.”

.....Robert Ruby, director of communications for Freedom House, insisted, “Israel, like some other democracies, has hovered on the line between ‘Free’ and ‘Partly Free’ for several years.” He struggled to explain the two rationales for the change.

“The first is the growing economic influence of Israel Hayom, which is distributed free of charge,” he said. “It has affected the economic model and stability of other publications.” In other words, if you are successful, you create an “unfree” press. Maybe the invention of the free Internet or the success of free Twitter and Facebook have made the United States unfree since so many publications have gone belly-up. He could not explain why that phenomenon does not affect the U.S. rating as “free,” but Israel Hayom’s success makes Israel “partly free.” (Previous reports noted the instability in the U.S. media market, but the United States did not lose its “free” rating.)

Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, observes, “The media business has never been stable in any free-market country. In just the past five years in America, Facebook — which is free! — has become the single biggest source of news in the country, a new reality that has quickly destabilized the media business.” He explains, “Publications that haven’t succeeded at creating Facebook-friendly content have failed, and publications (such as Buzzfeed) whose traffic and distribution model is designed almost entirely around Facebook have flourished.”

What was Israel to do — ban Israel Hayom? Oh no! “Freedom House would consider a government ban of a publication — whatever the country and whatever the publication – a serious infringement of press freedom,” Ruby said. Ah, so Israel is damned either way because it has a free press and free market where anyone can start a publication. The logic here is incomprehensible.

[Purveyor]

1. Right-wing hack Jennifer Rubin? And to think you people

are so concerned with my sources.

[shira]

2. One word: "Godspeed"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134114701#post1

[Purveyor]

3. I think I have that entered in Journal too.

[King_David]

9. That post kind of disqualifies you from rational Democratic Party debate

on this topic....

[Purveyor]

13. I know, who'd think...right?

[ericson00]

4. in Freedom In the World, its still FREE. The Press Freedom score was also PF a few years back

Last edited Wed Apr 27, 2016, 08:31 PM - Edit history (1)

which was a sad talking point from anti-Israel people I fought online. Freedom in the World is the only one that matters.

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2016 (the one that matters)

[6chars]

5. Total double standard applied to Israel

They had a list of all the countries whose "freedom of press" rating had been lowered and the reasons why. All the other countries it was like "government has passed law allowing spying on press," "police arrest journalists for criticizing president," "journalists intimidated by threat of arrest," "journalists self-censoring due to terrorism." etc. etc. All things that are legitimate indicators of how free the press is.

Then there is Israel where the mere existence of one particular paper is treated an affront to freedom of the others -- much like the mere existence of Israel is an affront to the Israel haters of the world.

They must have decided they were going to degrade Israel and then couldn't find any real basis, so they pulled one out of their ass.

This wrongly named Freedom House, like many Israel hating organizations, has thrown away all intellectual integrity in its desire to diminish Israel.

[shira]

6. Good post. Freedom House has become politically compromised....

I wonder how much money, intimidation, arm-twisting or bullying it took for them to make complete jack-asses of themselves.

[Little Tich]

7. The author of the OP is a conservative Republican and it's not really accurate,

but what I'm really wondering is why it's posted in a forum like DU?

Isn't it even remotely possible that the circulation of a free right-wing newspaper like Israel Hayom could make it difficult for less right-wing news outlets that depend on a paying readership model?

[shira]

8. Leftwing Haaretz reports the exact same thing.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.716648

And there's no excuse for what Freedom House did.

That you are defending this bullshit speaks volumes. Acknowledge it's absurd and move on.

If Israel restricted Israel Hayom in any way, THAT would be considered censorship and you'd be the first in line to throw that accusation out. So Israel is damned if they do and damned if they don't.

You know there are free news publications here in the USA and throughout all western nations, whether in print or online? They are devastating the media industry so why isn't Freedom House downgrading all other western nations besides Israel?

[Little Tich]

10. The Haaretz article doesn't question the findings.

If you have a better source for your concern than an article written by a conservative Republican, I'm prepared to not dismiss it out of hand.

[shira]

11. So what? You can't justify Freedom House's decision in any way.

It's indefensible and you know it.

You're telling me that if a liberal organization questioned Freedom House the same way, only THEN would that concern be valid?

You're kidding, right?

[6chars]

12. Look at the original "Freedom" House report

It lays out exactly why each country was downgraded. Country 1: arresting journalists. Country 2: Law banning non-party newspapers. Country 3: Closure of newspapers. Country 4: Censor must review everything. Israel: One of its tabloids has growing circulation. Country 6: Government does not investigate assassinations of journalists. etc.

This has nothing to do with whether it is Haaretz or Jennifer Rubin or their conclusions. Any poster here would think it is ridiculous that downgrading a country because of one tabloid doing fairly well, except for some posters with an agenda who would think it is reasonable if the country is Israel.

Does The Metro reduce freedom of the press in the US and all the other countries that have it? Didn't think so.

[Little Tich]

14. I'm sorry, but I'm still suspicious when the only criticism of the lowered rating comes from a

conservative Republican source.

Also, it's possible that the Freedom House assessment is correct - that Israel Hayom has a negative influence on the Israeli press.

[6chars]

15. Or perhaps suspicious when anything supports Israel?

One can use one's own brain to read the report and draw conclusions.

Whatever influence Israel Hayom has, it has no influence on Freedom of the Press.

I think Freedom House's real problem there is their belief that the Jews control the media.