In discussion this week we discussed censorship, and in class we have discussed journalistic glossing-over of important information, many times at will of the government. The recent Russian ban on all U.S. imports and exports in respects to food (specifically produce) is an issue that I feel is receiving far too little attention from the United States media. Although the Obama administration has claimed that the ban on many critical food imports will have an “insignificant” effect on U.S. growth, as of August 22nd, the United States has imposed its own retaliatory ban; a ban on imports of Russian guns, specifically AK-47’s (Wallstreetjournal.com).
This classic brand of assault rifles is extremely popular in the United States and thus they are still going to be sold on the Black Market via programs such as TOR, an anonymous browser that allows users to access the darker side of the internet.
After such a ban was imposed it would seem that the press coverage on this issue would be rather intensive, especially considering this is the first time the U.S. has imposed a significant restriction on any sort of import since that of oil from Iran in 2012. However, most stories found on websites such as the nytimes.com and online.wsj.com simply relates information from the Obama administration, again claiming the “insignificant” impact it will have on the U.S. economy.
Ultimately I feel that this blatant lack of controversial journalism may be seen as an attempt to censor possible underlying motives of U.S. involvement in the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Even if this is not the case, such lacking coverage forces us to question whether or not said involvement was a roundabout strategy to impose stricter gun-control regulations on U.S. citizens. Regardless as to whether or not this is an actual issue, further media coverage within the country would do a lot to dispel any sort of doubts on the matter.