As reported by ADN on Nov. 23, the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance added the U.S. to the list of “backsliding democracies” for the very first time.
In addition, the Reporters Without Borders organization published the report on ranking of 180 countries worldwide in its 2021 Press Freedom Index. This Index reflex the degree of freedom that journalists, news agencies and internet users have, and how authorities support this freedom. Seventeen separate data metrics are used to calculate this Index.
The U.S. ranked 44th on this Press Freedom Index, while Canada and Latvia, for example, are ahead of the U.S. with ranks of 14th and 22nd accordingly.Why has this happened? Ultra-lefts would blame owners of the means of production of media, and ultra-rights would blame Antifa. Moderate-lefts would blame Donald Trump, and moderate-rights would blame political correctness.
It is, using the modern slang, diversity, isn’t it?
Rudy J. Budesky
Anchorage
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