@giujohn,
Quote:I'm also quite aware of other authoritarian regimes.
Figured you were but there are so few "communist" states around anymore and I wanted to use Russia to illustrate my point.
Quote:And if it's your position that the banning fake news organizations access to the White House Press Room a violation of freedom of speech you are incorrect.
That is absolutely
not my position. I'm not one of those handwringing "slippery slope" worry-warts. We need a better, more precise definition of "fake news", though. AS with the dossier brouhaha at the last press conference;
BuzzFeed posted the content an unverified, unsubstantiated report (and identified it as such) which had been seen by a number of people in Washington. The stories might be inaccurate or even fictional, but the existence of the dossier is a fact. Leaving aside any ethical questions surrounding the release of the dossier,
BuzzFeed didn't post "fake news".
And Trump was really off the mark when he accused
CNN — all they did was report that
Buzzfeed had posted article. Definitely not "fake news". But I do think that news sources should be scrutinized and when fictional stories are discovered to have been maliciously concocted and spread as news I wouldn't mind seeing some criminal indictments and hefty fines.
Quote:They can exercise their freedom of speech anywhere else other than the White House Press Room after they're banned from it
Right on, Comrade!