Al-Jazeera often has the only news teams covering events in the Middle East. They were there, broadcasting live throughout the chaotic protests of the Arab Spring. Did they also shutter the likes of Fox news who will only air puppies and rainbows propaganda when it comes to delivering their rightwing flavored glop?

If they have nothing to hide and proudly standby their actions, Israel should welcome any journalists, even ones from Fox.

Let's say that RT was the only broadcaster in the Donbas covering events there.

Would we call supporting it supporting "freedom of the press"?

Not everything RT says is false. Most is just badly skewed by omitting part of the story or is already a negative story ("Hurricane Katrina knocks out power and US isn't prepared!&quot .

I've heard calls here for banning RT. Like I said, tough call: An informed citizenry should be able to see past it, but for years RT had a decent viewership at DU because it was believed. Chemtrails and other CTs had a good run. Getting people to actually read the words said instead of imputing the meaning already assumed is a difficult enough challenge.

We have people who assume that people can't be trusted to make dietary decisions. So of course we have people assume people can't be trusted to make other kinds of decisions. Tough call where to draw the line.

I go for not restricting the press. But also against the government deciding what is true and isn't. It means manipulation by other countries or even by a group native to the US could easily sow a bit of chaos. People do that; I put the onus not on those doing what we expect and skewing the news, but on those who avidly swallow it and revel in it and make it profitable in any sense.

Does Bat Boy still live?

Does anyone seriously think that Israel randomly bans the press for no reason? Does anyone think that the Israelis ban the press simply because they print something unfavorable (as opposed to publishing in favor of ending the state)? If that were true, then there would be many others banned. It isn't that much of a stretch to figure that this has something to do with alleged Qatari support for terrorism, and the effort to get them to stop. Why didn't ABC publish that, or at least ask about it?

The story here is a press group denouncing the action as bad policy.

BTW, its the Associated Press as reprinted by ABC.

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From other outlets, Israel accuses Al Jazeera of incitement, saying that security comes before freedom of expression and that democracy has limits.

Israel says it will shut down Al Jazeera, accused of ‘incitement’ (Washington Post)

NETANYAHU BACKS PUSH TO SHUT DOWN AL JAZEERA'S ISRAEL OFFICES (Jerusalem Post)