Marty Barron, Washington Post editor, has given a lecture about the ethical issues within medias on March 21, 2017. The two topics I concerned about are that whether media should keep their mouths shut and what journalists’ responsibility is.
No, media should not keep their mouths shut, and the only ethical answer for that is no, as Marty Barron mentioned in the lecture (2017). The basic idea is from the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Barron said that journalists should not betray the founders. I think that this idea could inspire to many journalists all around the world. Journalists’ points of view should be commentary, analytical and wide-opened. Press should speak up. “The United States Supreme Court places freedom of political expression at the top of the list of constitutionally protected rights. According to the United States Supreme Court, the most protected form of speech is political speech, because without free political speech one cannot have a true democracy.” (Ara, 1999, p. 500) Marty Barron has mentioned the same thing on the lecture: “There is no true democracy without free expression” (2017). “Speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self-government.” (Garrison v. Louisiana 379, 1964, p. 64) According to Coronel, “DEMOCRACY is impossible without a free press”, and “As early as the 17th century, Enlightenment theorists had argued that publicity and openness provide the best protection against tyranny and the excesses of arbitrary rule.” (2003, p. 4) I think these are very right about the importance of journalists freedom of speech. We as journalists should speak up and tell our audiences the truth. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of press should not be lost and forgotten.
Marty Barron also talked about that journalists should always report obligated evidence. We as journalists don’t report what we believe or feel is true, but evidence. Journalists are responsible for the evidence. Journalists cannot lie on our evidence, expertise and experience to our audience. According to Edelson, “Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein observe that ‘no lie is too extreme to be published, aired, and repeated, with little or no repercussion for its perpetrator.’” and “people will not be able to separate fact from fiction on matters of public interest” which means that audiences cannot distinguish lies from the reality, and will be deceived, and “public discourse” is polluted. People’s information and knowledge is polluted and false, and their own points of view are in the wrong direction. These incorrect informations could lead to a wrong self-government. Democratic self-government is undermined when public discourse is based on journalists’ lies (2012, p.531).
Marty Barron’s lecture has taught me a great lesson. It is important to have journalists in this society, but it is more crucial to have a truth-revealing journalists in this information age. Journalists’ obligation is to seek the fact and tell the truth and journalists also have the responsibility to express ourselves freely and deliver the correct messages to the public.
References
The Oweida Lecture: Marty Barron. (2017, March 21). Speech presented in HUB Robeson Center, University Park .
Ara, T. (1999). Free Speech Vs. Free Press: Analyzing the Impact of Nelson v. McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. on the Rights of Broadcast Journalists. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 32(2), 500.
(1964). Garrison v. Louisiana 379, 64, 74-75.
Coronel, S. (2003). The role of the media in deepening democracy. NGO Media Outreach: Using the.
Edelson, C. (2012). Lies, Damned Lies, and Journalism: Why Journalists are Failing to Vindicate First Amendment Values and How New Definition of the Press Can Help. Oregon Law Review 91(2), 531.