When it comes to freedom of the press, John, Britain clearly is less free than the United States. It's always been much easier to sue the press for defamation in the UK than in the US, which as a practical matter makes it difficult for investigative reporters to report solid stories of great public importance unless they have an extreme and often unrealistically high level of proof and backup. And in the wake of your phone hacking scandals, you folks now have a royal charter to oversee the press -- i.e., the government now regulates the press. This is not freedom, certainly not compared to the US. And the harassment of the Guardian for reporting on Edward Snowden is rather troubling as well.
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