[FussyZeus]

I wonder if China can fully enter the first world while still executing such a thorough and complete control over the media? Would anyone like to weigh in on if free speech is essential to what you'd consider a first world country, or is it simply one of those luxuries that only some need?

[gherkin0]

What do you mean by "first world country?" The terms first/second/third world were originally names used to distinguish countries aligned either with the capitalist west, communist east, or neither (which typically were less developed). Now it's used more as a synonym for "developed country," which is a category that certainly included the Soviet Union (there wasn't a lot of free speech there, to say the least).

I don't think the Chinese government cares about western political values, and it'll probably be satisfied with whatever economic development it can get without them.

[FussyZeus]

I was referring to development, I actually had no idea those terms were originally political. Today I Learned.

[benologist]

The EU gave Turkey an extra €3bn the same week their police - seized - a newspaper for criticizing the government.

All is well again under the editor the government put in place.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/06/seized-turkish-...

[danharaj]

A media industry outside of the control of the government isn't required to be part of the "first world". Turkey is part of NATO, as first world as it gets, and their government is increasingly curtailing rights like freedom of assembly and the press.

You are first world if the first world says you are first world. You are second world if the first world says you are second world. You are third world if the first world says nothing about you. Ideology serves geopolitics, it does not determine it.

[frandroid]

There are a few NATO countries which don't quite qualify as "First World", and Turkey's crackdown of freedoms is a recent phenomenon.

[AJ007]

Consider what the US would look like if there was zero oversight from the media. Many, many problems swept out of view and hidden indefinitely. Few lessons can be learned when the mistakes are nearly unknown.