[Wikinews-l] Censorshop

[Phoenix Rose]

On 20/05/2008, at 6:08 AM, Sue Gardner wrote:
> Ilya Haykinson wrote:
>> The embargo system isn't perfect.  In the case of political events of
>> high importance, embargo is simply unfair: a press conference makes
>> more sense, so everybody learns about it at once.  However, in the
>> normal course of events, it solves the problem of having to inform
>> many journalists at once, and letting them have a day or more to do
>> their research and get their balanced articles going, without the  
>> fear
>> that they'll be scooped by someone else.
>>
>> -ilya
>>
>
>
>> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 9:02 AM, divol <jacques.divol at laposte.net>  
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> For exemple, in France, when there's a vote, no one should know the
>>> results before the end of the ballote, but journalists (and  
>>> politics,
>>> friends and famillies)  know, why ?, because "embargo"?  (not good
>>> english i am sorry)

The specific example of embargo for a vote also makes sense: it is to  
ensure that coverage of the voting shouldn't influence the way people  
vote. If one province or state votes in one way and the coverage shows  
this, people in other provinces that haven't finished voting may  
decide not to bother voting, because they are disillusioned that their  
candidate has already lost, or because they feel their candidate has  
already won and that their vote doesn't matter. I think it's important  
not to cover the vote until the ballot is closed, so that the media  
doesn't influence the political outcome and leaves the people as free  
as possible to vote the way they intend.

Hope that makes sense, Jacques. Here's my attempt to explain in  
French, just in case:

L'exemple spécifique de l'embargo pour un vote semble également  
raisonnable : ça assure que ce reportage n'influence pas le manière  
des votes. Si un province ou état vote dans l'un façon ou l'autre , et  
le reportage démontre ceci, les gens dans d'autres provinces qui n'ont  
pas encore voté peuves décider de ne pas prendre la peine de voter,  
parce qu'on les désillusionne que leur candidat a déjà perdu, ou parce  
qu'ils se sentent que leur candidat a déjà gagné et que leur voix ne  
comptent pas. Je pense que c'est important pour ne pas indiquer le  
vote jusqu'au vote est fermé, ainsi que la media n'influence pas les  
résultats politiques et laisse les gens aussi librement comme possible  
de voter dans la manière qu'ils prévoient.

phoenix
--
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping with  
a mosquito" -- Dalai Lama