press freedom

At the risk of once again being told that I hate America, I'm compelled to cite Neil McIntosh's observation that the United States has an ugly characteristic in common with a certain African country: "Were I to take up reporting again and do my thing from Web 2.0 in San Francisco next week, I too could be locked up and thrown out the country - just like reporters from Zimbabwe whose fate she [Mindy McAdams] highlights on her blog.

I'm in Paris at the conference "New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension," organized by the World Press Freedom Committee at UNESCO headquarters. It's been a humbling experience to be on stage with people talking about real barriers to Web publishing: government repression, censorship, arrests and outright poverty. And here I am discussing our interactive community efforts in a couple of cushy upscale suburban markets in the United States. Nevertheless, the audience seemed genuinely engaged and there was quite a line of people wanting to exchange cards and ask questions afterward.