The media in the USA also has full control of what goes out to the public.

Many stories that could harm a company are put to rest early in the game before being reported.

A case and point is Monsanto.  They made a drug that produced more milk but caused strange side effects in the animals and could potentially cause the same in humans...yet they were able to continue to sell it because the threat was not made public and when it was made public, it was controlled to the point that it had no impact...that I think is a pretty good way to control "the media".

I'm not saying the CCP are great and have a wonderful way of doing things in China...and I don't agree with some of the practices of corporations in the US.  But I'm happy living here in Hong Kong  

That is a tautology. Since the media is, by definition, the sum of all means by which information is communicated to the public, they necessarily control all that is published. The newspaper companies control what gets written in the papers, the TV broadcasters determine what appears on the home set, etc. etc.

However, it is paranoid nonsense to think that news unfavorable to Big Business is suppressed in the States. Tho it does sometimes happen that a particular broadcaster or newspaper will avoid publishing some item damaging to a company with which it has some commercial relationship, that would not stop someone else from going public with the news. It does, however, frequently happen that to avoid being sued, a broadcaster will not publish something unless it is well substantiated.

There are far too many competing, independent news sources in the States for information to be controlled. I've read plenty of bad press on Monsanto in the New York Times, for instance. In any case, the American press is full of news critical of corporate behavior.

The only thing that even comes close to self-censorship in the States is the kind of thing that happened in the run-up to the Iraqi war when the American press got all caught up in post-911 patriotic hysteria and swallowed all that Bush administration bullshit on Saddam Husein. But that only lasted for a year or so before the liberal press began to savage the Bushites.

[ Last edited by  Marsupial at 23-7-2008 00:28 ]

i realize the amount of control is different. I am in no way defending the ccp for their actions of censorship. I was just saying it does happen elsewhere.  The government in the US does like to ke their secrets...and they say you have access to the files later but at the moment when it matters...sometimes the govt goes too far. just some thoughts.

so right now Obama is your choice, I think.

Yes, I love HK too! In spite of everything it is a damned good place and I believe we have more freedom here than any
place on earth. The one thing that annoys me, however, is busybodies contantly complaining about everything.

I've found myself complaining a few times...about bad service!

One thing I dont like about H.K is the cabby attitude and service!