Saturday, April 2, 2011

The stakes are high and the politics are brutal

Freedom of speech, academic freedom, false truths have all been in the press this week.  Canada's regulators have defied the prime minister by refusing to repeal a law that prohibits "false truth" in newscasts.  The University of Wisconsin chancellor (equivalent to our provost) strongly supported a faculty member's right to blog on political issues after the local Republican party asked for all the professor's emails under the freedom of information act.  We live in scary times.
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5 comments:

  1. Laura KochApril 2, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    THis is my most favorite quote from the Canada article:

    "The provision has kept Fox News and right wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987."

    I would love a place with high quality news coverage. Reagan just had to go on and ruin everything. The possibility of a consumption tax, more honest news sources...

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  2. Becky McLaughlinApril 2, 2011 at 3:03 PM

    I too would love a place with high quality news coverage. I tend to use BBC as my news source for world news because many US news sources are biased and generally do not share the whole story.

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  3. Ankur JainApril 2, 2011 at 8:13 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Ankur JainApril 2, 2011 at 8:14 PM

    Dr. McKinney's comment that we live in scary times is completely warranted. The current state of affairs in Wisconsin is chilling. I hope there is a way academic freedom can be extended towards all of Professor William Cronon's emails in the future as well. To have to fear about being reprimanded for the emails you write amongst colleagues would be ridiculous. I also agree with Becky in that I try to get my news coverage from unbiased news sources and typically rely on BBC and CNN as outlets for news.

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  5. EMeisheApril 3, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    Unfortunately, I do not believe that a truly unbiased news source exists, everybody sees events through some type of lens. I think the important thing is to recognize and accept that there is an agenda and to try to inform one's opinions based on facts as much as possible.
    I agree with Ankur in the hope that academic freedom will be upheld across the country with regard to the free exchange of ideas.

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