Daphne Caruana Galizia

[firstfloor]

When journalists stand up to Trump, he denounces them with claims of FAKE NEWS. In Malta, they use car bombs instead. These are both political crimes and they have similar goals – to silence or discredit a critical press.

[rogue06]

Time to re-post this.

Liberals for the most part ignored how poorly Obama treated the press and the press itself largely smiled and masochistically took what he handed out because he was the Obamessiah and most of it was directed toward conservatives.

Source: WHY IT'LL BE HARD FOR TRUMP TO SURPASS OBAMA'S RECORD OF CHILLING PRESS FREEDOM

‘Folks like Rush Limbaugh, some commentators on Fox News, that hot house ... has been harmful to the country’


Many in the mainstream media are reacting with righteous indignation over comments from a senior Trump adviser suggesting the administration views the traditional media as an opponent. But if we're to take these apostles of press freedom seriously, they should first explain why the Trump Administration is worse than the Obama Administration.

After all, the Obama Administration literally tried imprisoning an uncooperative journalist, monitored journalists' every digital move, and "hammered" at least one challenging reporter with IRS audits.

Let's rewind the tape.

The Obama Administration began with lofty promises of being "the most transparent administration in history." Instead it ended up setting a record, by the Associated Press's count, for denying the most Freedom of Information Act requests.

As the administration's popularity began tumbling early into its first year, the Obama White House declared war on Fox News. The White House director of communications, Anita Dunn, warned they would henceforth treat Fox News "like an opponent," insisting, "we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

The Obama administration made good on that threat. Soon thereafter, the administration sought to deny Fox News' participation in executive branch news-making events -- which only failed after other networks admirably refused to participate if Fox News were excluded.

As you'll see in the montage above, President Obama blamed Fox News and talk radio for virtually every problem his administration encountered, warning in his waning days that these "domestic propagandists" were far more damaging to America than any interference from hostile powers like Russia.

When Fox News's State Department correspondent, James Rosen, reported accurate information about North Korea leaked by a member of the Obama State Department, Eric Holder ordered his movements to be tracked, his phone records seized, and went "judge shopping" until he found one willing to grant such a warrant without telling Rosen himself. Holder even told Google to not notify Rosen that the government was monitoring his email.

"To treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job — seeking out information the government doesn’t want made public — deprives Americans of the First Amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based," the Washington Post wrote at the time.

And it wasn't just Fox News. The New York Times's James Risen was targeted for almost the entirety of Obama's two terms. His crime? Reporting accurate information the Obama Administration didn't want reported. "Along the way, we found out that the government had spied on virtually every aspect of James Risen’s digital life from phone calls, to emails, to credit card statements, bank records and more," the Freedom of the Press Foundation reported. After the Supreme Court rejected Risen's appeal of an earlier order mandating he testify about the source of information he reported, Risen faced jail time.

After an outcry, Holder finally backed down.

The Associated Press experienced similar surveillance. For two months, the Department of Justice tracked 20 AP reporters' calls, ostensibly over their reporting into a Libyan terrorist's failed plot. Why was reporting on a failed plot so threatening? The AP said it was because the administration wanted to announce the news itself.

Obama himself was notorious for granting interviews with journalists whom he knew would treat him gently -- like Steve Kroft. When Obama accidentally exposed himself to a mildly challenging interview with a local reporter in Saint Louis, that reporter was later "hammered" with IRS audits.

With the Obama Administration, the message to the media was always clear: Report negatively about us, and we'll use the powers at our disposal to make you suffer consequences.

If those journalists currently complaining about the Trump Administration found no such fault with the Obama Administration, perhaps it's because they were all too willing to toe the line.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Now imagine if Trump started tracking a bunch of reporters phone calls, not because they were publishing classified information, but merely because they had published a story that Trump wanted to be the first to release. Or sicced the IRS after reporters who asked tough questions. The howls of outrage would be heard far and wide and those would be the lead stories for days on end as scowling left-wing pundits and politicians would be calling for impeachment.

Compare that to the "crime" of calling something "fake news"

[Jedidiah]

When journalists stand up to Trump, he denounces them with claims of FAKE NEWS. In Malta, they use car bombs instead. These are both political crimes and they have similar goals – to silence or discredit a critical press.

Yeah, expecting the press to be unbiased and honest is very much the same as trying to silence or discredit them.

[rogue06]

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[Cow Poke]

When journalists stand up to Trump, he denounces them with claims of FAKE NEWS. In Malta, they use car bombs instead. These are both political crimes and they have similar goals – to silence or discredit a critical press.

I bet you read that in the press!

[rogue06]

A couple pieces by the rabidly anti-Trump New York Times:

Source: If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama

If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the F.B.I. to spy on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him such expansive power: Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump made his animus toward the news media clear during the presidential campaign, often expressing his disgust with coverage through Twitter or in diatribes at rallies. So if his campaign is any guide, Mr. Trump seems likely to enthusiastically embrace the aggressive crackdown on journalists and whistle-blowers that is an important yet little understood component of Mr. Obama’s presidential legacy.

Criticism of Mr. Obama’s stance on press freedom, government transparency and secrecy is hotly disputed by the White House, but many journalism groups say the record is clear. Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined. It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists.

Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Source: Only Nixon Harmed a Free Press More

The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.

The government's subpoena of The Associated Press's phone records was bad enough. But the disclosure of the search warrant in the Rosen case shows President Obama has delved into territory never before reached by previous presidents.

The Justice Department obtained Rosen’s e-mail by using a search warrant in which it alleged that Rosen was a co-conspirator with a government adviser named Stephen Kim.

This conspiracy, as imagined by the Justice Department, commenced as soon as Rosen started e-mailing or talking with Kim. But reporters have the right to talk to anyone, under the First Amendment. Obama’s theory of conspiracy therefore strikes at the heart of that amendment.

Until President Obama came into office, no one thought talking or emailing was not protected by the First Amendment.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

[*Both stories continues at the above links*]

And yet ff wants us to believe that Trump is committing a "crime" by calling news outlets "fake news"

[Cow Poke]

A couple pieces by the rabidly anti-Trump New York Times:

Source: If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama

If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the F.B.I. to spy on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him such expansive power: Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump made his animus toward the news media clear during the presidential campaign, often expressing his disgust with coverage through Twitter or in diatribes at rallies. So if his campaign is any guide, Mr. Trump seems likely to enthusiastically embrace the aggressive crackdown on journalists and whistle-blowers that is an important yet little understood component of Mr. Obama’s presidential legacy.

Criticism of Mr. Obama’s stance on press freedom, government transparency and secrecy is hotly disputed by the White House, but many journalism groups say the record is clear. Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined. It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists.

Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Source: Only Nixon Harmed a Free Press More

The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.

The government's subpoena of The Associated Press's phone records was bad enough. But the disclosure of the search warrant in the Rosen case shows President Obama has delved into territory never before reached by previous presidents.

The Justice Department obtained Rosen’s e-mail by using a search warrant in which it alleged that Rosen was a co-conspirator with a government adviser named Stephen Kim.

This conspiracy, as imagined by the Justice Department, commenced as soon as Rosen started e-mailing or talking with Kim. But reporters have the right to talk to anyone, under the First Amendment. Obama’s theory of conspiracy therefore strikes at the heart of that amendment.

Until President Obama came into office, no one thought talking or emailing was not protected by the First Amendment.



Source

© Copyright Original Source

[*Both stories continues at the above links*]

And yet ff wants us to believe that Trump is committing a "crime" by calling news outlets "fake news"

And JimL is having a cow that Trump is trying to "shut down" the media. He must have slept through the Obama era.

[rogue06]

And JimL is having a cow that Trump is trying to "shut down" the media. He must have slept through the Obama era.

In this thread it is ff. And I'll bet it he thought what Obama was doing was okey-dokey

[Cow Poke]

In this thread it is ff. And I'll bet it he thought what Obama was doing was okey-dokey

Yeah, I know it's FF in this thread - but maybe FF faxed JimL the talking points, cause this was one of Jimmy's hot buttons for a while.

True, instead we have a narcissistic authoritarian boob who advocates for the shutting down of the free press.

...Oh, perhaps its his attempt at tearing down democratic institutions such as free speech, freedom of the press, or maybe its the rampant corruption taking place within the swamp of his administration? Seriously, what were you expecting that he has delivered on you dupe?

Seems a new found tactic from those who would like to take down the free press is to anonymously disseminate to the press seemingly authentic documents, wait for them to be revealed to the public, only to expose their inauthenticity after they've been published and thereby discrediting the media and destroying the careers of the journalists involved.

[firstfloor]

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s last blog was characteristically trenchant, pithy and, unfortunately, more prescient for her than she could imagine. She had warned: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.” Less than half an hour later, a huge bomb ripped through the white Peugeot 108 rental car she had been driving, killing her instantly on a quiet country lane near her home in Malta. It is not special pleading to point out that journalists and journalism are facing extraordinary challenges: Mrs Caruana Galizia is the 10th journalist worldwide to die this year – and the second in Europe – in pursuit of finding the truth.

The assassination of an investigative journalist, one who had unearthed serious allegations of money laundering and corruption in Malta, a European Union state, speaks volumes about the threat to freedom of speech in that country and the atmosphere of impunity and violence that has taken hold in the Mediterranean archipelago. As her son Matthew put it, “she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it”. Her bravery cost her her life. It should not be lost in vain.

Mrs Caruana Galizia was a fearless reporter, taking on the rich and the powerful. A “one-woman WikiLeaks”, she led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta. Her death must be properly investigated – local police already appear to be unsympathetic. Mrs Caruana Galizia’s most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and hundreds of thousands of euros in payments from the government of Azerbaijan. Despite a judicial inquiry into the allegations, Mr Muscat won a snap poll this summer.

What is striking about Mrs Caruana Galizia’s reporting is how rotten the state of Malta appears. The EU’s smallest country, with a population of around 420,000, Malta held the rotating European Union presidency until earlier this year. It has been labelled an EU “pirate tax haven”, helping multinationals avoid paying €14bn. A darker side is the 15 mafia-style shootings and bombings that have punctuated its last decade. Its main industries have been infiltrated by crime gangs. Earlier this month Europol detailed how the Calabrian organised crime syndicate, the ’Ndrangheta, ran a €2bn money-laundering operation through Maltese online betting companies.

Internet gambling companies account for 10% of the island’s GDP. But Malta’s big money-spinner has been selling EU passports to the rich. More than 900 bought citizenship in 2016, which at €650,000 a pop means that they contributed nearly 16% of Malta’s budget revenues. Since many were taken up by Eurasian oligarchs, one can understand the accusation that Mrs Caruana Galizia was up against not a democracy but a mafia state.

The charge is that Malta is turning into a state run by, and resembling, organised crime – which does not govern but disposes of positions, wealth and troublesome persons. Malta cannot be a sham EU state where elections, the rule of law and the courts are just for show. The continent’s citizens accept EU governance because every member state is a functioning democracy. When one of its own backslides on democratic commitments, when a life is lost in the pursuit of truth, then the EU must take action.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...rate-situation

[rogue06]

What happened to her was horrible but your attempt to compare it to Trump calling out various networks and reporters for publishing/broadcasting bogus news stories was a joke.

[firstfloor]

What happened to her was horrible but your attempt to compare it to Trump calling out various networks and reporters for publishing/broadcasting bogus news stories was a joke.

When you hear claims of fake news from Trump, you should always look closer. He is a pathological liar.

As the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) delves deeper in its investigation of US President Donald Trump's ties to Russia, it is becoming increasingly likely that the investigation will eventually reach Malta thanks to a web of over a dozen Georgian offshore companies set up in Malta…….etc, etc.

http://www.independent.com.mt/articl...lta-6736178572

[firstfloor]

And,

This week we have had a brutal reminder of what the mainstream media does – and why we need it. On Monday Malta’s most prominent investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was murdered when the car she was driving was blown sky high, scattering her body parts across a field.

She has been widely described as a blogger, and she did indeed break some of her biggest stories that way. But she was also a columnist for the Malta Independent and its Sunday sister title (her last column appeared on Sunday, opposing the legalisation of cannabis). She was fiercely independent, even a maverick. But she was also part of the mainstream media. Indeed, her most important story, the Panama Papers and its Maltese dimension, came about through the combined heft of a network of mainstream news organisations, including the Guardian.

Her murder – motivated, of course, not by some generalised opposition to the media but by the apparent desire of criminals to silence a reporter whose revelations threatened their interests – is a timely and unwanted reminder of the risks journalists like Caruana Galizia take to do their job. As the Guardian notes in its editorial on the killing, the Maltese reporter is the 10th journalist to die this year. The New York Times rightly records that journalists have been jailed in Turkey, and murdered in Russia, India and the Philippines. In the US they are daily denounced as purveyors of “fake news.”

But if Caruana Galizia’s death is a reminder of the risks such reporters take, her life is a reminder of the value of their work. She performed an extraordinary service, ferreting out evidence that Malta had become an island mafia state, its elite riddled with corruption, money-laundering, kickbacks and gang violence.

Her counterparts provide an equally essential service in their own societies. Think, for example, of the reporting of David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post who has been forensically combing his way through the Trump finances. It was Fahrenthold who established that when the president says he’s given money to charity, it’s best not to take his word for it.

Fahrenthold is part of the reviled mainstream media, just as Caruana Galizia was. That’s worth remembering next time an activist site of the far right or far left – dishing out stories that are unchecked, unsourced and, in a word, fake – slams the MSM. As Caruana Galizia’s bereaved son, Matthew, put it this week: “This is what happens when the institutions of the state are left incapacitated: the last person left standing is often a journalist.”

- Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...urnalist-media

[rogue06]

To say that you're stretching things in an attempt to make a connection is an extreme understatement

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