Criticism Of The Western View Of Press Freedom

The outbreak of the COVID is the most influential global epidemic experienced by mankind in the past 100 years.It is a severe crisis and a severe test for the world.In the current epidemic situation,responsible news media should convey accurate information to the public.However,the mainstream American media,which has always advocated press freedom,fairness and justice,are busy responding to some politicians,spreading rumors and accusations,“stigmatizing” and “dumping” to China.The double standards and hypocrisy of press in capitalist countries have once again questioned the reality of press freedom.Press freedom has different connotations in different periods in Western countries.During the Renaissance,press freedom only referred to speech freedom.In the 17 th century,press freedom mainly meant press freedom.After the publication of newspapers and magazines in Western European countries,press freedom also refers to press freedom.In modern society,press freedom emphasizes the freedom to exchange information on a primitive basis.The continuous expansion and change of the connotation of press freedom reflects the continuous development of the idea of press freedom,and in fact also reflects the historical evolution of Western capitalist society.It is reasonable to examine the development trajectory of press freedom from a historical perspective,explore the development and changes of western press freedom thought in the process of capitalist society,and comb,analyze the driving factors and historical logic of western press freedom view.The Renaissance and the Reformation allowed people to turn their eyes from heaven to themselves.Feudal religious power gradually declined,and capitalist production methods continued to develop.With the expansion of society's demand for information dissemination,the idea of press freedom came into being.When the bourgeois mode of production became an important social force,the bourgeoisie gradually liberated the press freedom from the shackles of feudal monarchy,and free newspapers defeated party newspapers and became the mainstream of society.During the industrial revolution,both capitalism and the press freedom movement continued to advance and develop,and press freedom was even promoted to the “Fourth Power” alongside the three powers.After capitalism based on private ownership entered the stage of monopoly development,the idealistic free press independent of the three powers became a “weapon” for the capitalist class to eliminate dissidents internally,and gradually became a political struggle tool for Western capitalist countries to criticize and discredit other countries.It can be said that in the process of capitalist development,press as an “important tool” runs through.In terms of historical context,the bourgeois free press has undergone a transformation from an “Era Vanguard” fighting for freedom and democracy to a class “Ruling Tool”centered on capital logic.Press freedom has transformed from an advanced idea of fighting for democracy to capital expansion.Stability maintenance and expansion “Tools” of reproduction.During the period of feudal rule,fighting for press freedom was an important means for the bourgeoisie to seek socialized production.The purpose was to seek,establish,and consolidate the social status of capitalism.After the overthrow of feudal rule,capitalism began to show its “teeth”,using press freedom as a “disguise”,and using the power of the media to realize the expansion of capitalist reproduction.The idea of press freedom under private ownership became a powerful “weapon” for the bourgeoisie.From the perspective of Marxist economic philosophy,it takes the historical development of the bourgeois news view as its context,focusing on the analysis of the logical relationship between various economic paradigms.Relying on the general environment of capitalist society,searching for its ideological roots and philosophical starting points in history.It reveals the essence of the view of press freedom: with capital logic as the core,the Western bourgeoisie is a struggle tool to consolidate its own rule based on the theory of “innate human rights”,“rationality”,and “separation of powers”.The deceptive nature of press freedom lies in the capitalist ideology it represents and preaches,including: human rights,freedom,and democracy.The contradiction is mainly reflected in the “commercial endowment of human rights” under private ownership,press becoming a vassal of the Western political system,and the deviation between the pursuit of abstract absolute freedom and reality.On this basis,it reveals and criticizes the hypocrisy of Western press freedom.