Issue 55 Freedom of the Press April 15,2013

What is the freedom of the press to you? Does it mean a reporter can just spout any form of nonsense when ever they choose? The Freedom of the Press is part of free speech, but in this case plays an important function, keeping government in check.

As free speech: The freedom of the press is a form of speech that is published for all to see. It is no longer just a simple news paper story, but television, and electronic media. It is a news station, a work of satirical literature (both in print and visual), a television show, a documentary and so on. There really is no limit to what today can be considered part of the freedom of the press. Even this blog counts as part of that freedom.

Limits: As always, there are limitations. A reporter cannot say something that is not true about an individual. That would be considered lying. Due to this, a reporter in a court of law may be sued in court (at least here in the U.S. they can) as any lie can potentially ruin someone’s life. In the U.S. however, there is a double standard as celebrities and people in highly visible public positions must prove malice (intentional destruction of ones reputation in this instance) in order to defend themselves from a false truth. The double standard here was established to protect all reporters as a single celebrity or public official suing can ruin the life of a reporter and create fear in the minds of other reporters and commentators to the point they can no longer report a story accurately.

They can be used: If any one has grown up in a totalitarian society, or a society that values something more than freedom, then they know that a news agency can be censored. What is censorship? It is the manipulation of what is written or viewed by the general public, usually by a government. In America, there used to be wide spread censorship, restricting the types of characters portrayed on the television or written into books. They could even limit what news reporters said. In countries run by dictators, the news media is a mouth piece for government, squawking like a parrot when the government so desirers. There is also self censorship. Some agencies do it out of decency, as there viewers watch them because they expect a certain level of decorum. Others however have an agenda. Unfortunately, more so today than in the past I would think, that a news agency would manipulate its stories to better support their ideological agenda. Some may even use it to destroy there opposition by telling how biased a particular group is to discredit them and ultimately cause them to lose enough money to shut down. Then there is others still that would manipulate the story so as to inflate it (which I generally see on a slow news day when I watch the news), but is sometimes used to give attention to a particular person or group.

Thank Goodness for the Internet: With the internet being so pervasive in today’s society it has become that much harder to lie to the public. Every blogger, writer, film maker, and artist has the potential to be a reporter and/or commentator. Information cannot be hidden anymore as once that information has spread, that’s it, it can no longer be covered up and the victim of that leak is now on damage control duty. But there is one negative, the truth can be overwhelmed by lies. If people hear a lie long enough, they think it is true and thus when presented with the actual truth, they think it a lie.

Information and truth are now a battlefield. Reporters have a very rough road ahead as the established media like the New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News must adapt or die out. Every person has a preferred media source. Some in my generation prefer John Stewart (a comedian) over the likes of Anderson Cooper and Bill O'rielly. But it is up to us to try and take the time to sort out the truth from the lies otherwise; we become lambs to the slaughter. It is up to the new generation of reporters to establish a moral high ground so as to not manipulate the news and maintain an air of professionalism. Truth must be what we seek from the press; otherwise we disgrace the freedom of the press and turn it softly into a tool of tyranny.