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Originally Posted by crash9
I think English - these were her comments a couple of years ago about pressure on the press
"During a CNBC conversation with Tina Brown, Amanpour said:
“Yes. I think the press was muzzled and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of--of the kind of broadcast work we did. I mean, all of us should have...”
Before we continue with her quote, look at the word: fear. A climate of fear. People in the press – even this top reporter at CNN – feel afraid to report the truth. Is this America or the old Soviet Union? She continued. Tina Brown asked her if she meant there was a particular story they she wasn’t allowed to do, and she responded:
“It's not a question of couldn't do it, it's a question of tone.”
In other words, the intimidation was that she had to put a pro-Bush “tone,” and had “fear” about what would happen if she didn’t.
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I have two problems with that, one philosophical and the other political.
Where does fear come from? If it is imposed from outside then everybody should feel equal fear from a given stimulus. If it is totally from within then no amount or kind of external stimulus could impose fear on an unwilling recipient. I'm betting it's a combination of both, which is why in a given situation difeferent people exhibit different responses to imposed stressors.
If that's the case, then Amanpour is probably innaccurately generalizing to others a response that she felt.
The political issue is this: If she isn't a citizen then she's a fair target for eavesdropping.
B