Reporters without Borders has released their 2011/2012 Press Freedom Index, and Canada came in 10th place, while its only neighbour, the United States, came in 47th place.
Now, certainly, there is an element of subjectivity to the ratings, and they can even be politically motivated, but the gap between the two suggests that it’s outside the bounds of those two explanations alone.
It’s no surprise to me that France came ahead of the United States, as a friend once told me: if you really want to know what’s going on in American politics, read the French newspapers.
The fact that a former Soviet republic — Lithuania — came out ahead of the U.S. is very telling.
Canada can thank Quebecers for some of their better press freedom than the United States, since French-language media are by their very nature, not completely establishment, and some are sufficiently anti-establishment.
Ironically, Canadians can also thank their strong public broadcaster, the CBC, and Ontario provincial broadcaster, TVO, for increasing press freedom, since they allow for discussion you won’t find to the same degree in the private sector.
But, so that Canadians don’t get full of themselves with feelings of moral superiority, the fact is that Canada’s media is less of an attractive target for control than the American media, and that factor has contributed to Canada’s press being more free.
While the First Amendment was intended to only apply to Congress not being permitted to abridge an individual’s natural right to freedom of speech, it was later applied to the States, and the courts imposed restrictions on speech, such as understandably not being allowed to cry “fire!” in a crowded theatre.
But it was the unqualified First Amendment right to freedom of speech vis-a-vis Congressional interference that Canada itself never embraced, with no explicit recognition of the freedom of speech outside of the interference from either the federal or provincial governments in its original Constitution of 1867.
When an explicit recognition was made with Canada’s patrioted Constitution of 1982, it was made subject to limitations by the judiciary and a complete suppression by a simple majority vote in Parliament or any of the provincial assemblies, through the “notwithstanding” clause.
Those who continue to wax on about how superior the American form of government is to all others, without tempering it with talk of the current reality, are definitely missing the mark.
