According to Reporters Without Borders, an organization fighting for press freedom, the United States ranks 40th in the world with regards to freedom of the press (with 1 being the most freedom). On the other hand, the United Kingdom ranks 25th. Given this statistic, the question becomes “How can that freedom be seen in the newspapers?” To answer this question, I will focus solely on the UK’s The Guardian and The NY Times.

One way that freedom is clearly utilized in The Guardian is through curse language in the articles. A study of the articles printed in the last two weeks shows the use of curse words more than 100 times. Broken down, this includes approximately 45 uses of the “f-word,” over 50 of the “s-word,” and even the “c-word” is used a few times. Regarding specific articles, no type of article escapes this language: “Labour on death row,” an article about the Labour Party that was published October 1, reads, “…79% of voters don't give a shit about that.” Such language is a sharp contrast to newspapers like the New York Times, where curse words are essentially non-existent. In fact, during the time I spent comparing these two papers, I have yet to find a curse word in the Times. This is probably due, in part, to the AP style used by America’s newspapers which advises writers “to find a way to give the reader a sense of what was said without using the specific word.”

Another way the lack of constraints on freedom is seen through the casual, somewhat graphic talk about sex. The Guardian contains a weekly column about sexual health and healing that, with headlines like “I Find it Difficult to Climax,” certainly do not hold back. But it is articles like “Don't criminalise young sex” and “Why women have sex,” both published in late September, that show exactly how far the British have taken their freedom. In contrast, the New York Times does not have a sex column. Nor did I find an article that graphically discussed the subject during the time that I followed the paper. What I did find, though, was a very news-oriented approach to the subject: In “When the Cool Get Hazed,” for example, the Times writes about sex in relation to hazing.

Finally, both papers use the freedom they have to push their political agendas. Alhough both newspapers lean politically left, ironically it may be the New York Times that takes the most liberties with its freedom. In articles like “Republicans Call Health Legislation a Tax Increase,” dated October 1, the Times uses tactics like emotive language and the omission of pertinent facts to advocate its Liberal viewpoint. Similarly, The Guardian, which favors the center-left Labour party, also uses its platform to promote its leftwing ideology. Articles like “Tory ties with EU extremists are sickening, says David Miliband” and large-scale coverage of the country’s Labour Conference (as opposed to smaller-scale coverage of the Conservative conference), are perfect examples.