Turkey Using US Border Agents' Harassment Of Canadian Journalist To Defend Jailing Over 100 Journalists
from the the-high-ground-is-sinking dept
Last week, we wrote about the atrocious treatment of famed Canadian reporter Ed Ou by the US's Customs & Border Patrol agents. Ou was on his way to document the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline and he was detained, had his devices confiscated and searched, and then was denied entry into the US. And, of course, as we've seen before in similar stories, Homeland Security's response to these sorts of stories is to shrug and basically say "we don't have to tell you anything."But, already, those actions are being used by authoritarian regimes to justify cracking down on journalists elsewhere. As you may have heard, Turkey's notoriously thin skinned President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been cracking down against basically anyone who doesn't like him these days -- with a particular focus on journalists. He's been throwing them in jail by the dozens. Literally. There were the 42 journalists jailed in July and the 13 journalists in October and another 9 in November. As of a few weeks ago, the total was calculated at around 120 journalists thrown in jail by Erdogan.
Not surprisingly, this has resulted in various journalism organizations condemning Turkey's jailing of journalists. Governments, including the European Parliament have condemned it as well.
But Turkey is basically calling everyone hypocrites. As pointed out by Trevor Timm, Turkey's state news agency has attacked the hypocrisy of "Western media" and its claims to press freedoms.
Turkey’s General Directorate of Press and Information (BYEGM) on Friday accused countries critical of Turkey’s media environment of turning a blind eye to press freedoms in their own jurisdictions.And, of course, one of the examples used, is what US Homeland Security did to Ou, among other examples, including the arrests of journalists covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, two years ago.
Research compiled by the body questioned Western states’ claims that freedom of the press was unlimited in their countries.
Recalling that among the countries frequently criticizing Turkey were France, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and the U.S., the BYEGM research questioned whether journalists and other media workers were able to work freely in these nations.
The research presented examples of constraints and censorship faced by media workers in those countries.
Friday’s BYEGM statement recalled an incident in October involving a Canadian journalist called Edward Ou who wanted to shoot video of Native Americans protesting against a pipeline planned for Dakota state in the U.S.Of course, there's a massive difference in the (yes, wrongful) arrests and detainment of journalists in the US over reporting with the purposeful jailing of journalists, including charging some with horrific crimes, in Turkey. But by not stopping this ridiculous bad behavior, such as what happened to Ou with border agents, we're handing Turkey and other authoritarian regimes an easy excuse to continue their efforts to completely eradicate a free and open press.
"He [Ou] was not allowed to enter the U.S.," the BYEGM said, adding: "Edward Ou was held at the border for six hours and during this time his telephone and cameras were confiscated.”
In the U.S. “14 journalists, including Anadolu Agency, Die Welt and Bild correspondents” were arrested amid unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal police shooting of a black man in 2014.
The BYEGM went on to state: "In Baltimore incidents, City Paper's photo editor JM Giardano was beaten by the police and photographer Sait Serkan Gurbuz, who was working for Reuters, was taken into custody.”
In July 2016 the Middle East correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, Maria Abi-Habib, “was taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the grounds that she was a journalist 'traveling dangerous locations'".
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Filed Under: border patrol, cbp, dhs, ed ou, free speech, journalists, turkey
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If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you also?
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Re:
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In army GMT we did exactly that…
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It's only a problem if you're trying to project an image that does not portray you as fascistoid oligarchy, but as some kind of moral role-model.
But sorry, that went out of the window somewhere in 2001 the latest, after you got rid of the other president because of perjury regarding a blow job, and didn't get rid of that president because of perjury regarding mass surveillance and weapons of mass destruction.
Now the USA is the top bully, and if the top bully can get away with it, all the other micro-bullies will point their fingers at her and say "but she tortured too!".
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It sounds like either mass mind control, or the top of the cliff is on fire.
Just saying.
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State Troll declares apples are oranges.
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Yes, it's called base-jumping ;)
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- "You should treat prisoners like human beings"
- "Why? They mutilate and kill them in Saudi Arabia!"
Some people see no problem with an outright race to the bottom.
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And in films...
That was the bad guy; he was right. Sage words.
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The same thing we do every day Pinky
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But...
Other countries have more specific laws - i.e. (NZ, I think) "if you spent less than 5 years in jail and it's been more than 10 years since you finished your sentence...". Very simple, no discrimination or wiggle roo
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Re: But...
It's both. Don't let the agents off so easily.
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The US Customs agent conclusion to that sentence:
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Re: But...
Really? It's not the border agents' fault for acting like this because nobody's stopping them? Sorry, but that means it's absolutely the agents' fault for acting like this.
A case of it not being their fault would be "I would have treated the guy correctly but statute X means I would be liable for prosecution if I did" not "there's no statute saying I have to act correctly".
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Pollution inspectors, fishing license inspectors, policemen (of course), flood defence engineers, tv licence enforcers (UK), fire chiefs...
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When
THEN I will consider this over and done..
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Turkey and other authoritarian regimes?
But You-know-who won't keep back like that. So you'll get the personality to match the authoritarian setup of the U.S. And his stance towards the press has been made clear in advance as well.
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Re: Turkey and other authoritarian regimes?
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Re: Turkey and other authoritarian regimes?
...Oh, my mistake, wrong dark lord.
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Re: Re: Turkey and other authoritarian regimes?
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This is what happens...
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The Israel Argument ...
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Re: The Israel Argument ...
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JOURNAL THIS
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Above and beyond the arbitrary removal of Comment Logs/ Clogs from websites as SPAM, Spam, spam, is the INSIDIOUS denial of Clogs, A-L-T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R! And my recent "CYBEREPHIPHANY", and "CYBEREURIKA MOMENT" concerning C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E C-L-O-G D-E-N-I-A-L, has been to suggest a wholly new method for RESPONSIBLY RANKING Search Engine search results (regardless of the Search Engine!), wherein and wherewith Elite Coorporate media interests are desparate to be seen!... and my method, it is as follows...
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IT IS MY POSITION THAT ALL SEARCH RESULTS (REGARDLESS OF THE SEARCH ENGINE BEING USED!) SHOULD BE "M-A-N-D-A-T-E-D" TO BE W-E-I-G-H-T-E-D I-N F-A-V-O-U-R OF RESULTS, THAT ALLOW FOR F-R-E-E (BOTH UNINTERMELLED, AND COST-FREE!) P-U-B-L-I-C C-O-M-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y (AND THUS, REQUIRING A COMMENT LOG/ CLOG SECTION TO BE PRESENT WITHIN SITES, IN ORDER FOR A WEBSITE TO BE GRANTED "PREFERENTIAL RANKING" BY, AND WITHIN, A-N-Y SEARCH ENGINE!)! AND THUSLY!... ELIMINATING THE CURRENT PRACTICE OF SEARCH ENGINES... AND/ OR "CERTAIN" THIRD-PARTY "ELITE INTERESTS"!... FROM INDIVIDUALLY, OR JOINTLY "M-A-N-I-P-U-L-A-T-I-N-G" "POLITICALLY CHARGED", OR "LEANING" COMMENTARY AWAY FROM "TOP BILLING (THROUGH PERVERSE 'SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION'/ SEO ALGORITHMS!... AND/ OR, OTHER 'A-N-T-I SEARCH NEUTRALITY' AND 'A-N-T-I NET NEUTRALITY' ALGORITHMS!)"!... AND THEREBY, PLACING CLOG-FREE WEBSITES (MANY OF WHICH, ARE MEDIA SITES!) AT THE TOP OF SEARCH ENGINE SEARCH RESULTS! AND, SIMPLY BECAUSE, SEARCH ENGINES!... AND/ OR "CERTAIN" THIRD-PARTY "ELITE INTERESTS"!... FEEL THAT THESE (INTERESTS!) ARE DIRECTLY, AND/ OR INDIRECTLY, ADVERSELY "POLITICALLY/ SOCIALLY IMPACTED (BY COMMISSION AND/ OR OMISSION!... DIRECTLY AND/ OR INDIRECTLY EVIDENCED!)" BY THE O-T-H-E-R-W-I-S-E "SEARCH ENGINE ALLOWED" "RESULT RANKING" OF SUCH "POLITICALLY CHARGED", OR "LEANING" COMMENTARY (E.G., THE MESSAGE YOU ARE NOW READING!)!
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(IN OTHER WORDS, DO YOU THINK THAT THIS MESSAGE YOU'RE NOW READING WOULD EVER BE SEEN ON A MEDIA SITE, IN ORDER TO PROFFER CRITICISM OF YET OTHER MEDIA SITES?)
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AND THUSLY!... NO "NEUTRAL WEBSITE (I.E., ONE HAVING N-O CLOG!)" WOULD BE ALLOWED AT THE TOP OF SEARCH RESULTS RANKINGS!... P-E-R-I-O-D!! UNLESS!... AND OF COURSE!... N-O C-O-M-M-E-N-T-S HAVE BEEN EXPRESSED WITHIN THE SUM NUMBER OF THE T-H-E-N "COMMENTS FACILITATING SITES" LISTED WITHIN A SEARCH ENGINE'S SEARCH RESULTS (RESPECTIVE OF A GIVEN SEARCH EXPRESSION USED!)!... OR!... THE SITE DOESN'T LEND ITSELF TO "PUBLIC COMMENTARY (I.E., THE NATURE OF THE WEBSITE, 'LOGICALLY PRECLUDES' FACILITATING PUBLIC DISCUSSION!)"! AND THIS-- THEN!-- WILL MEAN, THAT, F-R-E-E D-E-M-O-C-R-A-T-I-C P-U-B-L-I-C E-X-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N WILL "HOLD SWAY" OVER A-N-Y A-N-D A-L-L O-T-H-E-R "RANKING CONSIDERATIONS", RE THE RANKING OF SEARCH ENGINE SEARCH RESULTS!
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To sum up... it's one thing to "cry foul" when a journalist is said to be denied his/ her Right to FREE EXPRESSION, but it's quite another for the "Media Interests" behind such a "journalist", to deny this very same Right to netizens who may frequent their media websites! HYPOCRITES!... I say!
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And so!... although I can-- and should!-- sympathize with the plight of a "journalist" who is being denied his/ her Right to communicate some "TRUTH" to the world, I have NO SYMPATHY for any media outlet that/ which would turn around and deny the very same Right to those who would be users of their respective media platforms!
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And as for those media sites that/ which DARE provide a voice for netizens, an important step would be to address the Digital Human Rights violations inhere within the very design of respective site Clog windows, that/ which disallow LINKING, "CRITICAL COMMENTARY (BUT, ETC.!)"!... and facilitate IP Address theft, and manipulation!
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Please!... no emails!
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Re: JOURNAL THIS
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Re: Re: JOURNAL THIS
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Please!... no emails!
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