Famous instances of the press being threatened?
July 5, 2006 7:36 PM

What are some famous instances of the press being threatened or coerced by government, corporations, or other groups?

If I get desperate, I'll also accept very tangential stuff, like Doonesbury getting dropped from the Continental Features comics section.
posted by RobotHero to Society & Culture (13 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
John Peter Zenger
posted by logicpunk at 7:40 PM on July 5, 2006


You probably want to look here and here.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:46 PM on July 5, 2006


You're going to need some scope, or the list will be unending.

Are you looking for examples of the press being threatened in the US? By the US? etc. etc.

Some examples.. McLibel, the bombing of Al Jazeera, or Jane Akre/Steve Wilson.
posted by Chuckles at 8:15 PM on July 5, 2006


The Pentagon Papers?
posted by RichardP at 8:57 PM on July 5, 2006


September 11th to this moment.
posted by jamie939 at 9:02 PM on July 5, 2006


The BBC is banned from Zimbabwe.
posted by sagwalla at 10:58 PM on July 5, 2006


The reporters sans frontieres site lists many current examples, but they're not necessarily famous.
posted by goo at 1:45 AM on July 6, 2006


William Randolph Hearst, aided by corporate allies, used his media corporations to effectively demonize hemp for his own corporate self-interests and xenophobia. By controlling a sizable amount of the press at the time, Hearst was able to coerce both other press and the government to create the myth of "reefer madness" and prohibition regulations favorable to his business interests. Much more comprehensive information can be found in "The Emperor Wears No Clothes".
posted by McGuillicuddy at 2:15 AM on July 6, 2006


Gloria Steinem tells a story about Ms. magazine, an Andrea Dworkin article with Nazi imagery, and a Volkswagen ad on the facing page.
posted by box at 5:11 AM on July 6, 2006


The Hutton inquiry
posted by cgfoz at 5:52 AM on July 6, 2006


Another obvious one, in Canada we have publication bans, legally sanctioned coersion which occurs frequently. The current terrorism suspects, the Bernardo/Homolka trials.
posted by Chuckles at 7:28 AM on July 6, 2006


I'm not sure if it fits your criteria, but after the Danish cartoons controversy, Malaysia's New Straits Times printed a Non Sequitor cartoon which satirized the whole thing (it features a caricarturist on the sidewalk with a sign saying "Caricartures of Mohammad while you wait"; the caption was along the lines of "Kevin finally figured out how to be the most feared man in the world".)

Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi, who had been known as a strong advocate for free speech but also has a beef with the NST (long drama), reacted strongly - he accused the NST of being insulting to Muslims. Jeff and some of his loyal readers (including a couple of NGOs) launched an attack against the NST.

The government got involved, and demanded an explanation from the NST editors. (Interestingly, NST is aligned - perhaps owned - by the Malaysian government; I think our PM wasn't too bothered by it either).

The NST eventually printed a front-page apology, and there was a side-note about Jeff Ooi being investigated by the police for inciting racial instability (or something along those lines). I stopped reading him soon after that though so I don't know what happened since. I know he's still online though.

It's strange; he did get threatened by one of NST's sibling papers (a comment someone left on his blog was miscontrued as Jeff himself insulting Muslims - and the government meddled in too) which sparked his distaste for the NST, and many other liberal/activist types weren't too fond of NST's conservativeness either. However, in this case it was divided; the Jeff Ooi loyalists attacked the paper with him, while many other liberal activist types were all "W.T.F. JEFF?!" and finding themselves in a weird situation of supporting a paper they didn't really like in principle.

From the press threatening a blogger to that blogger and his readers threatening the press!

Aizuddin Danian's blog has more info.
posted by divabat at 6:05 PM on July 7, 2006




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