For 260 years the amendment Freedom of the Press is what protects the media from being thrown in jail for just telling the truth. Well lets go back to that one day in 1734, the day that changed the colonies forever. It all started on February 23, 1734, on an issue of the New-York Daily Journal, CATO (journalist) wrote many articles that were very critical on the recently fired Governor William Cosby. Cosby saw these articles and put Zenger to trial, but Zenger countered it by hiring an illustrious Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton. By a unanimous decision the court found Zenger "Not Guilty". Hamilton went on and established the precedent that would be signed onto the constitution 57 years later on December 15, 1791 of what we now call home, The United States of America.
Throughout the years, freedom of the press is interpreted as that the press can write the truth about anyone who is involved in something big. One obvious example was Michael Jackson's death a year ago. Many tabloids were blaming Jackson's doctor for killing him, yet Michael was very aware that whatever he took could kill him, but he wanted it anyway. This incident was all over the news and Jackson's doctor didn't say a word about them because they were pretty much on the dot. Also, since we are in the U.S., all press were allowed in the investigations and basically let the public know the 411 on what was happening. The media outlets are all in a no holds barred war for dominance and whoever is the best truth teller, the first amendment will protect them no matter what.
The Zenger case was very enthralling to me due to its topic of debate. Freedom of press is a very delicate issue because the truth is misinterpreted if the background story or whole story is not given. For example in Michael Jacksons case the press started issuing information about how Jackson's doctor had given him lethal medicine. The doctor could not say it was false because it was true, but what they did not say until later was that the doctor had warned Jackson about the dangers of the medicine. Maybe if the doctor had not given Jackson the medicine then Jackson could have filed a lawsuit against him for neglect in healthcare. What ever the reason was that made the doctor give Jackson the medicine the press failed to cover the whole truth and this led to false accusations and opinons of the doctor. Even though they did say the truth, they did not say the whole truth and just said parts of the true story. The press knows the loop holes in the buisness and they know how to say the truth in a way that can mislead but have them protected by the first amendment. When it comes to this issue magazienes that want to say the truth have to be extremly conscientious and sure that they are saying the whole truth not only parts of it.
ReplyDeleteMartin! Wonderful post! Very nice - and excellent work putting in tags here! Very nice.
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought in Michael Jackson's recent death into this discussion - the press played a major role in Jackson's image throughout his career. From teen heart-throb to sicko, the media was there for his rise and fall. Specifically the media went all-out in the days following his death. As Yasidh pointed out, they didn't tell the whole story. They didn't care about the whole story so much as they made money from it, in the process ruining the doctor's reputation. Now he'll always be "the guy that killed Michael Jackson." Very nice discussion here guys - does anyone have more to add to this? :D