The press routinely posts stories regarding people accused of a crime but not convicted. This frequently destroys lives (e.g., the Duke Lacrosse team case, the Olympics bomb scare in Atlanta that resulted in strong accusations and eventual acquittal of an innocent man whose life was ruined, etc.) of innocent victims. The tabloids frequently destroy reputations based on conjecture, frequently delving into people's private lives even when asked to step away.Do these press actions call for a review of the concept of responsible journalism or is this acceptable press behavior?
This is probable one of the best Questions I've seen on here in a long time. Does our freedom of speech (press) take precedence over wrong full accusations (slander)? You can not restrict the press, it is a slippery slope to controlling it which happens in countries like Russia, Chiana. But I do think the reporters editor or (producer), should be held accountable or liable when presumptions are made before a true accurate happening of events has come out.
No. The freedom of the press should not be restricted. You may think it unfair that people are convicted in the court of public opinion, but reporting the news is reporting the news. Irresponsible journalism has a penalty. It's libel and there are avenues to correct situations where one has been misrepresented or lied about. Curtailing freedom as a means of making a kindler gentler world is not an option. To paraphrase a very wise quote: Anyone who would accept reduced freedoms for safety of any kind (safety from being offended, safety from terror attacks) deserves neither safety or freedom. Giving up freedom is not a solution.
Once you start restricting the freedom of the press, you are on the road to totalitarianism. The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press. You would have to have a constitutional amendment in order to counter that strong prohibition and that will not happen. Lawsuits are the only effective means of countering false, baseless stories in the press. There will always be stories that hurt someone unfairly because criminal accusations, whether the persons are guilty or not, are news.
Yes it should be but how and who is going to do it? A lot of the news have no more value than cheap back biting. In other examples the press sticks up for one part of the society and ignores the rest and calls it freedom of press although they know darn well, that they are cheating. It?s actually such a power tool, that whoever holds it, wants to use it for his own purpose. So anyone who would have the right to judge what the press should report could misuse that one day. If you only write decent stuff and wait until the truth is known before you report anything than you will loose readers. People are interested in action, bad stuff, violence and sex. So long as it?s money that rules the World, the papers will write what people want to read and not what they should or the truth.
I okorder /. How one would go about fixing this bias and destructive media , I don't know... Not unless people used the Internet , or adds,whatever to bring the journalist to task. In a nation of people were celebrity worship and attacking whats unpopular at the time is more important than facts, the truth will never matter....
