U.S. to host World Press Freedom Day

This paragraph is hilarious: "The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age."

While hunting down Wikileaks and Julian Assange?<p>dont get me wrong, i live in iran and what you have as freedom of press is a thousand years ahead of us, but really, 'world press freedom day' and calling wikileaks 'a terrorist organization' AT THE SAME TIME?

I love how the lede makes it sound like UNESCO is the only real press-freedom organization in the world. Never mind folks like Reporter without Borders <a href="http://www.rsf.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.rsf.org</a> who have condemned US actions. Or, <a href="http://www.cpj.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.cpj.org</a>, or <a href="http://freedomhouse.org" rel="nofollow">http://freedomhouse.org</a>, or <a href="http://amnesty.org" rel="nofollow">http://amnesty.org</a>, or <a href="http://www.hrw.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hrw.org/</a>

I guess the event will be sponsored by the Ministry of Truth.

How hypocritical!<p>It's not press freedom if you only allow it when it suits your agenda.

Say what you will, but the U.S. puts up with a lot more than most countries. Be thankful for the freedoms you have and celebrate the freedom of others.<p>Edit: Not sure why some went on the defensive. I never said you shouldn't fight to protect your own freedoms. Nor did I condemn anyone or anything. Is this really what we've been reduced to? In our search for freedom of speech we're squelching the voice of those who don't agree with us? Isn't that what you are aiming to fight?

this is the first time i can remember when such a headline would appear ironic.

When WikiLeaks published the docs, I thought it would be great as it would expose Westerners to how most of the world lives &#38; operates. Clearly it didn't. Which nation would the commenters here recommend as host of WPFD, in place of the US? (Not counting nations too remote/small to have any security concerns at all)

37 votes 2 hours ago. And it isn't in the frontpage.<p>Isn't something broken in the ranking?

How ironic given our actions of wikileaks, crazy.

Come on guys, the United States didn't do jack to Julian Assange. It's the Swedish who are pursuing the case against him, and quite possibly the matter is one of internal politics. You might say that the US put pressure on Sweden to have this happen, but here in the civilized world we say innocent until proven guilty right?<p>On the other hand many many Americans celebrate Wikileaks and what it represents, the government has done extremely little / nothing against wikileaks, and all the antagonists wield only rhetoric. The relative inaction so far is reason for celebration! Obviously there are always going to be people who say sensational stuff, but they don't represent the entire country.

does not compute.

Oh come on...