by ccartaginese
One of the lessons history teaches us is that the further a country moves to the left, the more restrictive its press becomes. In a true Marxist state, the press is an extension of the government and acts as the party's official mouthpiece. Competition, freedom to report accurately, and dissent are not allowed. Punishments for transgressions are swift and severe. The most egregious example of this was the former Soviet Union.
Today, all true socialist and communist countries lack a free press. North Korea, led by the the demented Kim Jung Il; Cuba, led by the Marxist Castro brothers, Venezuela, led by the the megalomaniac Hugo Chavez; and Communist China are the most familiar examples of the above axiom. Some of the countries mentioned lost their freedom of press almost immediately after a revolution - China and Cuba, for example. Others lost it by degrees. Chavez dismantled Venezuela's free press a little at a time, all the while consolidating his own power. As he became stronger, the press became weaker, until ultimately, it merely became a transcription service for his speeches.
As our country lurches further to the left, we are starting to see the familiar pattern emerge. The administration of Barack Obama has chosen the Venezuelen model. Slowly and methodically, the government's fingers are wrapping around the neck of the free press.
The first assault was in the form of the "Fairness Doctrine," an effort to purge conservatives from the airwaves.
Next came the phony "Town Hall Meetings" with the public, where cherry-picked Obama supporters were allowed to toss pre-screened softball questions designed not to embarass the president.
Now, the same concept of pre-screening both the questions and the questioners has been applied to "White House Press Corps Meetings," the latest of which was such a fiasco that it prompted an angry exchange [video here] between liberal correspondent Helen Thomas and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs!
Said Thomas: "Nixon didn't try to do that. They [the Nixon administration] couldn't control [the media]. They didn't try.... What the hell do they think we are, puppets?"
The answer, Ms. Thomas, is "Yes."
