Judith Lichtenberg Foundations and Limits of Freedom of the...
Transcript of Judith Lichtenberg Foundations and Limits of Freedom of the...
Final Exam Review
Judith Lichtenberg – Foundations and Limits of Freedom of the Press
- Freedom of the press in democratic societies is a nearly unchallengeable dogma (belief) –
essential, it is thought, to individual autonomy and self-expression, and an indispensable
element in democracy and the attainment of truth
- At the same time, we know that the press in its most characteristic modern incarnation – mass
media in mass society – works not only to enhance the flow of ideas and information but also to
inhibit it
- Which views get covered, and in what way, depends mainly on the economic and political
structure and context of press institutions. Important factors:
o News organizations belong to large corporations
o Driven economically
o Media is easily manipulated by government officials
o Characteristics of the media themselves constrain or influence coverage
- Regulations have been implemented for these defects including Ownership of multiple media
properties being limited
- Critics of regulation argue that freedom of the press, like freedom of speech, is at the core of
what our society is about, and that commitment to it prohibits the policies in question:
regulation of the press is incompatible with freedom of the press
- Freedom of the press is an instrumental good (it is good if it does certain things and not
especially good otherwise)
- Theorists Mills and Kant – both stress the role of freedom of expression in human and self-
realization or self-development
o Mills On Liberty asserts the need for “liberty of the press’ and proceeds to list
arguments for freedom of thought and discussion. Defends the connection between
freedom of expression and a person’s self-realization.
o Kant What is Enlightenment? defends freedom of the press with general arguments for
the benefits of freedom of thought and discussion.
The press is treated as a voice, albeit a more powerful one, on a par with
individual voices, and defending press freedom is then equal to a general
defence of free speech. Argues a person’s ability to communicate ideas to the
public at large is essential to human enlightenment
- The modern press consists largely of vast and complex institutions that differ in essential
respects both from individuals and from the early press, around which the concept of freedom
of the press grew. Arguments that support freedom of expression for individuals or for small
publications do not necessarily support similar freedoms for the mass media.
- What we want when we want free speech:
o That people be able to communicate without interference
o That there be many people communicating or at least many different ideas and points
of view being communicated
o These can be described in two basic principles:
Noninterference – one should not be prevented from thinking, speaking,
reading, writing, or listening as one sees fit.
Multiplicity of voices principle – The purposes of freedom of speech are
realized when expression and diversity of expression flourish.
- A newspaper may not interefere with a person’s right to speak or write, but it may very well
present her from expressing her views in that newspaper. Such decisions are simply exercises of
the newspaper’s editorial autonomy (this agrees with non-interference principle and classes
with multiplicity of voices principle)
- Deepest interest in free speech is a concern about individual autonomy
o This requires freedom to speak as well as freedom to hear.
- Freedom of speech protects expression that is essentially symbolic (primary way we
communicate feelings - art, writing, speaking. Not by punching someone in the nose though)
- Crude relativism – truth or goodness is whatever the majority thinks it is
- Self development – making the most out of oneself, or making oneself as wise as possible
o Self development is a “maximizing” concept: more is better, very important in bridging
the arguments from autonomy and from truth making them almost inseparable. Self-
development/self-realization is how you come to ideas of the truth.
- Autonomy and self-development in an intellectual vacuum are impossible.
o There must be a multiplicity of voices is central to achieving individual autonomy
(independence)
o Hearing others express themselves is essential to attaining the social values underlying
free speech for the individual
- Even under a strong free speech principle, however, all such activities take place under
constraints
o Can’t go into someones house and read their books, there are government restrictions
o In this case property rights are ultimate, simple, and straightforward, always taking
priority
- We hold that the value of privacy of a sphere over which the individual is sovereign, is so
important that it overrides or excludes the principle of equality (makes the freedom of speech
need to be moved to public spaces such as streets and parks to accommodate peoples interests)
- In the case of publishing, no one has a right to publish (I have the right to try to publish but
whether successful typically depends on choices that they are entitled to make.
o The free speech principle does not imply a right to publish where one chooses
o There are “Time, place, and manner” restrictions – often added as if they were minor
qualifications
Therefore, non-interference is sovereign in its place, but its place is much
smaller
- Problem: Most people get the vast majority of their news from mass media
- The increasing extent and power of media corporations, which are often part of an interlocked
with other large corporations. Naive to think their interests are not reflected in the content.
o Issue with this is mass media presents itself as describing the world “as it is” although
they only present one side on issues, theres no diversity.
- Principle – Argued that state should not interfere in the workings of the press
o Regulation is important though in order to keep the integrity of the press
o Content regulation: Makes specific demands of press institutions to cover certain kinds
of issues, to cover them in a certain way, or to provide access to certain points of view.
Negative aspect of government regulation
- Structural Regulation: Builds rules and constraints into the structure and organization of media
take as a whole. Positive move of government regulation.
o Weakens the objection in the principle that the gov’t is in no position to regulate the
press. Proves regulation can be productive, creates variety in programming
Why privacy is important – James Rachels
- Privacy necessary to protect people’s interest in competitive situations (ex. Not telling the other
team the play they will do)
o Also used to keep some aspect of life or behaviour private because it would be
embarrassing if people knew about it
o Medical records should be kept private since there are consequences about them going
public (Ex. Spreading someone has a disease could ruin a marriage)
o When people apply for credit theres a file of information on them. This should not be
leaked, unfair to decide someones credit on this personal information about them thats
irrellavant
- We need to account for the value which privacy has for us, not only in the few special cases but
in the many common and unremarkable cases as well – nobody wants to have their room
bugged even if nothing they are doing is questionable
- Rachels ‘Privacy is necessary if we are to maintain the variety of social relationships with other
people that we want to have, and that is why it is important to us
o There are different patterns of behaviour associated with different relationships
o However one conceives one’s relations with other people, there is inseparable from
that conception an idea of how it is appropriate to behave with and around them, and
what information about oneself it is appropriate for them to have.
Ex. Group therapy alot of people usually find something inappropriate about it
cause one simply does not reveal one’s deepest feelings to strangers.
- Privacy has to do with the crucial part of our lives – our relations with people- and how its
organized as its importance can hardly be exaggerated. Thus we have good reason to object to
anything that interferes with these relationships and makes it difficult or impossible for us to
maintain them the way we want to.
- Seperation allows us to behave with certain people in the way that is appropriate to that sort of
relationship
o We regulate our behaviour according to the kinds of relationships we have with the
people around us.
- If we cannot control who has access to us then we cant control the patterns of behaviour we
need to adopt or the kinds of relations with people that we will have.
Toward a Theory of Privacy in the Information Age – James Moor
- Given the ability of computers to manipulate information- to store endlessly – we are justifiably
concerned that in a computerized society our privacy may be invaded and that information
harmful to us will be revealed.
- Greased information – is information that moves like lightning and is hard to hold onto
- Computers have elephant memories - big, accurate and long term
- The greasing of information allows other computers to capture and manipulate information in
ways we do not expect. Example Pizza Pizza knows what you like from their restaurant after you
have ordered there once before.
- Once information is captured electronically for whatever purpose, it is greased and ready to go
for any purpose.
o We leave electronic footprints everywhere and data collected for one purpose can be
resurrected and used elsewhere.
o Problem with computer privacy is to keep proper care on where such information can
and should go
- Instrumental values – values which are good because they lead to something else which is good
(goods as means – ex computer is a good as a means cause it helps in writing papers)
- Intrinsic values – values which are goods themselves. (goods as ends – ex just the joy of using
the computer is a good as an end, theres no value to that)
- Privacy has instrumental value. Example if it was leaked someone had HIV they would risk
discrimination, people might not want to date them, might not get hired for jobs.
- The justification of privacy would be more secure if we could show its intrinsic value.
- He claims all sustainable human cultures will exhibit these values (core values - Life, happiness,
freedom, knowledge, ability, resources, and security).
o core values are values that all normal humans and cultures need for survival
these are sent down through generations and are understood differently and
utilized differently depending on the culture
privacy is an expression of security, one of the core values
all cultures need security of some kid, but not all need privacy. As societies
become larger, highly interactive, but less intimate, privacy becomes a natural
expression of the need for security. We seek protection from strangers who may
have goals anti-thetical to our own.
- With information being greased now in a computer culture its inevitable that privacy will
emerge as an expression of the core value security. People have a basic right to be protected.
- The Publicity Principle: Rules and conditions governing private situations should be clear and
known to the persons affected by them. (encourages informed consent and rational decision
making)
- The Justification of Exceptions Principle: A breach of private situation is justified if and only if
there is a great likelihood that the harm cause by the disclosure will be so much less than the
harm prevented that an impartial person would permit a break in this and in morally similar
situations (example think someone with HIV, telling their partner is more moral than letting
then contract the disease.
- The Adjustment Principle: If special circumstances justify a chance in the parameters of a
private situation, then the alteration should become an explicitly and public part of the rules
and conditions governing the private situation.
- It is imperative that we create zones of privacy that allow citizens to rationally plan their lives
without fear.
Case 6-A Funerals of Fallen Soldiers
- A 21 year old soldier was killed in Iraq. The funeral brought out thousands and was highly
publicized. A photographer was told to capture photos for a magazine of the grieving family, he
also used one with the open casket. Family tried to sue saying it was a “private religious
ceremony” although a judge ruled against this saying “the family put the death in the public eye
intentionally drawing attention to the burial.”
Case 6-D Kobe Bryant Rape Case
- Kobe was staying in Colorado to rehab his knee. Picked up a girl working at the place and slept
with her. She said it was rape it said it wasn’t. She filed a criminal lawsuit (which didn’t release
her name). Later, she dropped the case and changed it to a civil lawsuit giving the public
grounds to release her name. Two papers in Colorado were covering the story, one decided it
was ethical to use her name in the paper and the other did not.
Case 11-D Naomi Campbell
- Celebrity supermodel, known for partying and rumoured to use drugs, in the media spotlight.
Tabloids went hard on her saying she was really into coke which she denied. A tabloid in London
posted photos of Campbell leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in which she sued for
invasion of privacy and won. Judge noted even celebrities are entitled to privacy but also
believed the tabloid The Mirror were entitled to publish to the public her misleading drug
addiction
Objectivity and Truth
1984: Orwell’s and Ours - Noam Chomsky
- News media and question of truth – what extent is it factual accuracy
- Main interest with international affairs
- Soviet Newscaster Vladimir Danchev contested the totalitarian state concept of press freedom
by calling the Russian mission an “invasion”, he was put into a psychiatric hospital.
o Considered a triumph in human spirit – a refusal to be cowed by totalitarian violence
- Argues in the US everyones to soft to do what Danchev did. Journalists and other intellectuals
are so subservient to the doctrinal system that they can’t even perceive that “an invader is an
invader unless invited in by a government with a claim to legitimacy,” when its the US that is an
invader
- We call people ‘invaders’ when they come into the US but call us ‘defenders’ when we go into
their country (uses the example of Vietnam and how no one thought the war was right, over
70% of US weren’t in favour, the media spinned it to make it look like they were bad)
- ‘doves’ – thought we couldn’t win the war, were anti war ‘hopeless cause’
- ‘hawks’ – dedicated to the thought we could win
- Democratic system “brainwashing under freedom” with propaganda. In a totalitarian
government only the doctrine needs to be obeyed but in a democratic one they have control of
a whole lot more.
o Democratic systems have alot more ideological control
Objectivity, Impartiality and Good Journalism – Matthew Kieran
- Focuses on news reports, investigative journalism
- Supposed duty to impartiality and objectivity, arises from conceiving of the media as an
unofficial fourth estate. Supposed to report appropriately events that affect our lives as
members of society.
- Journalists prize their reputation for impartiality (fairness)
- Although, given that journalists bring to bear their fundamental value assumptions in making a
report, any event is open to innumerable redescriptions in different terms.
o Journalists who search for ‘the right’ description, interpretation and evaluation of states
of affairs are, on such a view, misguided and misleading.
o Nature of the event partly depends on those who interpret it
- Rodwell photograph said “Time for peace, Time to go” on an Ireland wall, photo was
photoshopped just “Time for Peace” completely altering the interpretation and evaluation
coming from the viewer
- But where interpretations differ, because of different basic beliefs and evaluative commitments,
there is no resolvable dispute.
- Discusses the OJ Simpson case and how it was interpreted and covered completely different by
mass media, black media and female media
- If someone interpreting a message does not have relevant background information it can
misconstrue the message they receive from the content.
o Example with the altered pic, photoshopping it made it a misrepresentation
- Representations of events can be used to express general perceptions, hopes and fears. But,
used as such, the image should not necessarily be understood as an interpretation and
evealuation of the nature of the event it is of.
- Whichever type of news coverage wins out will, according to Rorty, effectively remake reality in
its own image: a chilling though reminiscent of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
- Conflicts in news reporting usually occur because there are differences in judgement as to what
really constitutes a news story, how a story should best be covered and what the public ought to
have their attention drawn to.
o This can be sometimes confusing – look at the OJ Simpson case, both the mass, black,
and female media were producing factual information except how it was projected on
to its audience was very different with respect to what it concentrated on
Different legitimate reports are, essentially, not different interpretations at all
but incomplete sketches of the correct report.
Different scenarios may legitimately admit more than one possible evaluation
that are equally consistent, coherent and explanatory
There are radically different correct interpretations of the world
- Good Journalism – aims at discovering and promoting the audience’s understanding of an event
via truth-promoting methods.
o Honesty, discipline and impartiality are required to be a good journalist
- Bad Journalism – is truth-indifferent and fails to respect truth-promoting practices.
Case 8-B – Photo Manupulation Comp Technology
Youre a good graphic designer that can create eye-catching layouts. Editor’s caution you to never edit a
photograph. You do a piece on the senator of the US and the photographer took a picture where the flag
in the background was right above his head, it was very distracting. You decide to change it and move it
to the side (is that unethical?)
You find a picture of kids break dancing but one of the kids looks awkward. You digitally remove him
from the picture and put in another double of one of the other kids in the picture. The mom of the kid
removed from the pic notices and calls to ask why her kids been removed.
Case 8-D - Faking Photos
A computer software corporation is looking to buy some real estate in the city that would be taking over
some slums in the city, run down bars, hotels, homeless shelters. You are a photographer and your
manager asks you to get a photo of the area and homeless shelter to run in the paper before the deal is
put through. You ask a bunch of bums to pose for a picture but none of them will let you. Instead you
ask a friend to get dressed up and rub a ton of shit on em to make him look poor. You then take a
picture of him, it goes on the front cover of the paper and following that tons of community members
called in complaining they don’t want the homeless shelter removed. The deal is stopped. Is that
justified?
Case II-A – The “Duty to Die” Controversy
The Governor of Colorado was making a speech on medical-cost containment and quoted a guy who
essentially said it was our duty to die to let the future generations develop our world. The reference to
the guy was never mention in the report and the context was completely different than the way he said
it. This caused a stir nationally, and the Governor was particularly upset about it. The problem was other
than changing a ‘we’ to a ‘you’ he was quoted correctly in the report. This incorrectly reported story
hurt his reputation heavily.
Case II-E – When is Objective Reporting Irresponsible Reporting?
Amanda Laurens was a reporter for a local newspaper who did a story that had the Mayor accusing a
city council member of being a “paid liar” that distorts facts of pesticides on birds. After the press
conference she called the Mayor to ask if he had anything to respond to the accusation. He replied it
was “utter nonsense” and “politically motivated”. She later filed her story (under a short time line),
reporting both ends of the report. Her boss applauded her report as it gave a fair and balanced story of
the two. The mayor was cool with it, the councilman was pissed. He said the story was fair but not
truthful. He also said a good reporter would’ve researched this further before putting the story
together.
Advertising and Behaviour Control – Robert L. Arrington
Puffery – the practice by a seller of making exaggerated highly fanciful or suggestive claims
about a product or a service
o Puffery is not bragging; it is designed to achieve a very definite effect
o Using the technology of so-called motivational research, advertising firms first identify
our often hidden needs (for security, conformity, oral stimulation) and our desires (for
power, sexual dominance, and dalliance adventure) and then they design ads which
respond to these needs and desires.
Successful ad agency “manipulates human motivations and desires and develops a need for
goods with which the public has at one time been unfamiliar – perhaps even desirous of
purchasing
It is very repetitiousness has generated what ad theorist call – information
o In this case, it is indirect information, information derived not from the content of what
is said but from the fact that it is said so often and so vividly that it sticks in one’s mind
Another technique is how subliminal suggestions can be used to control customers
o Stores play subliminal suggestions in their music to influence customers
Puffery, indirect information transfer, subliminal advertising – are these techniques of
manipulation and control whose success shows that many of us have forfeited our autonomy
and become a community, or herd, of packaged souls
If companies didn’t use these techniques then it would be very hard to sell products
Embellishment and distortion are among advertising’s legitimate and socially desirable purposes
o To reject these techniques of advertising would be “to deny men’s honest needs”
Philip Nelson has developed an interesting defence of indirect information advertising
o He argues that even when the message (the direct information) is not credible, the fact
that the brand is advertised, and advertised frequently, is valuable indirect information
for the consumers
The reason for this is that the brands advertised most are more likely to be
better buys – losers wont be advertised a lot, for it simply wouldn’t pay to do so
o Nelson goes as far as to say that advertising, seen as information, does not require an
intelligent human response
If the indirect information has been received and has had its impact, the
consumer will purchase the better buy even if his explicit reason for doing so it
silly
Even though his behaviour is overtly irrational, but acting on the indirect
information he is nevertheless doing what he ought to do
What is involved in the notion of autonomy
1. Autonomous Desires
Viewer is watching TV about an ad for a facial hair product, he thinks if he uses
it then he will look much younger
Was the desire to be younger manufactured by the commercial, or was it
‘original to me’ and truly mine? Was it autonomous or not?
o We should not equate nonautonomous desires, desires which are not
original to me or truly mine, with those which are culturally induced
o If we did equate the two, he points out, then the desires for music, art,
knowledge could not properly be attributed to a person as original to
him for these are surely induced culturally
o The only desires a person would really have as his own in this case
would be purely physical like food, shelter and sex
o But if we reject the equation of the nonautonomous and the culturally
induced, then the mere fact that my desire to be young again is caused
by the TV commercial – surely an instrument of popular cultural
transmissions – does not in and of itself show that this is not my own,
autonomous desire
First-order Desire – is thought of as being nonautonomous, imposed on one
Second-order Desire – to maintain and fulfill a first-order desire, then the first-
order desire is truly his own, autonomous, original to him
2. Rational Desire and Choice
Desires induced by advertising are often irrational ones in the sense that they
are no expressed by an agent who is in full possession of the facts about the
products advertised or about the alternative products, which might be offered.
Advertising leads us to act on irrational desires or to make irrational choices
We have been prevented from following our rational wills or develop our true
self
The problem faced by this line of criticism is that of determining what is to
count as rational desire or rational choice?
o If we require that the desire or choice be the product of an awareness
of all facts about the product, then surely every one of us is always
moved by irrational desires and makes nothing but irrational choices
Advertising does not provide relevant information but rather makes claims
which aren’t 100 percent true
A purchasing decision based on anticipation of imaginary benefits is not, it
might be said, a rational decision, and a desire for imaginary benefits is not a
ration desire
Surely many ads directly promise subjective effects which their patrons actually
desire (and obtain when they purchase the product), and thus the ads provide
relevant info for rational choice
3. Free Choices
How do we distinguish between an impulse we do not resist and one we could
not resist, between freely giving in to a desire and succumbing to one?
o A person acts or chooses freely if he does so for a reason, that is, if he
can adduce considerations which justify in his mind the act in question
o However, a person will act from habit, or whim or impulse, and on these
occasions he does not have a reason in mind
o Nevertheless he often acts voluntarily in these instances, i.e. he could
have acted otherwise
o And this is because if there had been a reason for acting otherwise of
which he was aware, he would in face have done so
4. Control or Manipulation
A person C control the behaviour of another person P if:
o C intends P to act in a certain way A
o C’s intention is casually effective in bringing about A; and
o C intends to ensure that all of the necessary condones of A are satisfied
Control is the intentional production of behaviour
It is not enough just to have the intention; the intention must give rise to the
conditions which bring about the intended effect
The controller is not just influencing the outcome, not just having input; he is as
it were guaranteeing that the sufficient conditions for the indented effect are
satisfied
The Making of Self and World in Advertising
In this paper I will criticize a common practice I call associated advertising
I will argue against associative advertising by examining the virtues and vices at stake
Associative advertising is a technique that involves all of the following
1. The advertise wants people to buy (or buy more of) a product. This objective is
largely independent of any sincerer desire to improve or enrich the lives of the
people in the target markets
2. In order to increase sales, the advertiser identifies some deep-scatted non-market
good for which the people in the target market feel a strong desire. By “non-market
good” I mean something which cannot, strictly speaking, be bough or sold in a
marketplace like friendship, acceptance and esteem of others
3. In most cases the marketed product bears only the most tenuous relation to the
non-market goo with which it is associated in the advertising campaign For example,
soft drinks, cannot give one friend, sex, or excitement
4. Through advertising, the marketed product is associated with the non-market desire
it cannot possible satisfy If possible, the desire for the non-market good is
intensified by calling into question one’s acceptability. For example, mouth wash,
toothpaste, deodorant ads are concocted to make us sorry that we stink
5. Most of us have enough insight to see both (a) that no particular toothpaste can
make us sexy and (b) that wanting to be considered sexy is at least part of our
motive for buying toothpaste. Since we can see clearly what the appeal of the ad is,
we are usually not lacking in relevant information or deceived in any usual sense
6. In some cases, the product actually gives at least partial satisfaction to the non-
market desire – but only because of advertising. For example, mouthwash has little
prolonged effect on stinking breath, but it helps reduce the intense anxiety’s
reinforced by mouthwash commercials on TV because we at least feel that we are
doing the proper thing
Briefly examine how associative advertising effects (1.) the people who plan and execute
marketing strategies and (2.) the people who are exposed to campaign
1. Many advertisers come to think clearly and skilfully about how to sell a marketable
item by associating it with a non-market good which people in the target market
desire
An important ingredient in this process is lack of concern for the well being
of the people who will be influenced by the camping
It is quite common for advertisers to concentrate their attention on selling
something that is harmful to many people like candy or cigarettes
Prima facie morally objectionable
o Targets of associate advertising are sloe made worse by exposure of
effective ads of this kind: The harm done is of 2 kinds
1. We often find that we are buying more but enjoying it less.
We have all the material goods, but no family or friends
2. You are what you own ads. They tell us friends, lovers,
acceptance, excitement, and power are all gained by
purchases you make.
5 important objections that associative advertising is morally objectionable
1. Since each of us is (or can easily be if e want to be) aware of what is going on in
associative advertising, we must want to participate and find is unobjectionable.
Accordingly, the argument goes, associative advertising is not a violation of
individual independence
2. One could insist that even if the non-market desires are not satisfied completely,
they must be satisfied for the most part or we would stop falling for associative
advertising
3. One might claims that by associating mundane marketable items with deeply rooted
non-market desires, our everyday lives are invested with new and grated meaning.
“In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope”
a. Everyone in the world is trying in his special personal fashion to solve a
primal problem of life – the problem of rising about his own negligibility, of
escaping from nature’s confined, hostile, and unpredictable reality, of find
significance, security, and comfort in the things he must do to survive
4. Even one who is sympathetic with must of the above might object that associative
advertising is necessary to an industrial society such as ours
a. Argued about whether, without modern ads of the sort I have described,
there would be enough demand to sustain our present levels of production
5. It seems obvious to me that no broad legislative prohibition would improve matters
Society of Professiona Journalists: Code of Ethics
Duty of journalists it to serve the truth
a) Responsibility
The publics right to know of events of public importance and interest is the
overriding mission of the mass media
The purpose to distributing news and enlightened opinion is to serve the
general welfare
b) Freedom Of The Press
Freedom of the press is to be guarded as an inalienable right of people in a
free society
It carries it the freedom and the reasonability to discuss, question and
challenge actions and utterances of our government and od our public and
private institutions
c) Ethics
Journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the
public’s right to know
a) Gifts or anything of that nature should not be accepted
b) Secondary employment or their personal lives thought not be
brought into journalism
c) News communications from private sources should not be
published
d) Seek news that serves the public interest, despite the obstacles
e) Journalists acknowledge the newsman’s ethic of protecting
confidential sources of information
f) Plagiarism is dishonest and unacceptable
d) Accuracy and Objectivity
Good faith with the public is the foundation of all worthy journalism
a) Truth is the ultimate goal
b) Objectivity in reporting the news is another goal that serves as the
mark of an experienced professional
c) There is no excuse for inaccuracies or lack of thoroughness
d) Newspaper headlines should be accurate and photos should give an
accurate picture of an event and not highlight an event out of
context
e) News reports should be free of opinion or bias and represent all
sides of an issue
f) Partisanship in editoral comment that knowingly departs from the
truth violates the spirit of American journalism
6. Fair play
Journalists at all times will show respect for the dignity, privacy rights and
well-bring of people encountered in the course of gathering information
7. Pledge
Adherence to this code is intended to preserve and strengthen the bond of
mutual trust and respect between American journalists and the American
people
Encourages journalists to adhere to these tenets, and shall encourage
journalistic publications and broadcasters to recognize their responsibilities
to frame codes of ethics in concert with their employees to serve as
guidelines in furthering their goals
The Quest for a code of Professional Ethics:
An Intellectual and Moral Confusion