You fail to recognize the very long history of fake new; the WikiTribune’s claim to “evidence based news” is rather dubious given the reliance on assigning “blame” and “cause” on the whipping boy Trump….Are despots (dictators such as Duterte or Putin) kind and benevolent individuals only aroused by a US president’s “rhetoric” (sensu lato)?
Yes, fake news existed long before Trump – in fact, the first mention of “fake news” in the story links to the history of it, the very one you provided.
And the piece says nothing about Duterte or Putin being kind and benevolent individuals. The story states that these autocratic rulers have been “restricting media long before Trump”.
The story also states that because Trump constantly espouses fake news, combined with his relaxed approach to human rights issues beyond the U.S., dictatorial rulers like Duterte have been emboldened to “make bolder moves to crackdown on media and opposition groups.” Thanks.
We didn’t use either “blame” or “cause” in the story but we did find sufficient data and assertions from named individuals that the rhetoric from the President is having an effect on people who have this tendency – giving them some cover I guess. We would not say that ourselves — it is being said though by senators, diplomats and others — including the language of the “strongmen” themselves. We will add more evidence as it becomes clearer and of course we can add Maduro in Venezuela too at some stage. Take it further than Asia.
Thank you Link for this interesting piece. Curtailing rights in democracies not only weakens our institutions, but also heightens the sense of impunity for autocrats. As you say, quoting B. Richburg, attacks on the media in countries with a tradition of freedom of thought and speech provides dictators with ”a handy cudgel with which to beat their own media into submission”. Could you seek me out on Slack, as I’d like to discuss a suggestion for a future story on a related but wider topic? Thanks.
The last sentence in the 4th paragraph of the ‘Descent into outright dictatorship’ section seems incomplete.
“As a result, leaders throughout the region no longer feel watched by.”
Thanks Jamie, I’ve corrected that.
You fail to recognize the very long history of fake new; the WikiTribune’s claim to “evidence based news” is rather dubious given the reliance on assigning “blame” and “cause” on the whipping boy Trump….Are despots (dictators such as Duterte or Putin) kind and benevolent individuals only aroused by a US president’s “rhetoric” (sensu lato)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news
Yes, fake news existed long before Trump – in fact, the first mention of “fake news” in the story links to the history of it, the very one you provided.
And the piece says nothing about Duterte or Putin being kind and benevolent individuals. The story states that these autocratic rulers have been “restricting media long before Trump”.
The story also states that because Trump constantly espouses fake news, combined with his relaxed approach to human rights issues beyond the U.S., dictatorial rulers like Duterte have been emboldened to “make bolder moves to crackdown on media and opposition groups.” Thanks.
We didn’t use either “blame” or “cause” in the story but we did find sufficient data and assertions from named individuals that the rhetoric from the President is having an effect on people who have this tendency – giving them some cover I guess. We would not say that ourselves — it is being said though by senators, diplomats and others — including the language of the “strongmen” themselves. We will add more evidence as it becomes clearer and of course we can add Maduro in Venezuela too at some stage. Take it further than Asia.
Thank you Link for this interesting piece. Curtailing rights in democracies not only weakens our institutions, but also heightens the sense of impunity for autocrats. As you say, quoting B. Richburg, attacks on the media in countries with a tradition of freedom of thought and speech provides dictators with ”a handy cudgel with which to beat their own media into submission”. Could you seek me out on Slack, as I’d like to discuss a suggestion for a future story on a related but wider topic? Thanks.
For what it’s worth, in 2013 I wrote an article on the ”regrettable convergence” of some democracies and the dictatorships they rightly criticise, http://www.circleid.com/posts/20130826_global_surveillance_towards_convergence/
Thanks Jean-Jacques, I’ll reach out to you in a bit. Thanks.
“Heightened the sense of impunity” was exactly what I had in mind. 🙂