Do the Press Have Too Much Freedom Essay

Freedom of expression has always been emphasized as an essential basis for the democratic functioning of a society. The reasons for this are: the right of an individual to self-fulfillment, which right requires the communication of thought and an attempt which is frustrated if information is suppressed or comment blocked. For this we need press and it has to be free for being unbiased. Newspapers is an important source of information spreads news in an unlimited way. Furthermore, newspapers spread appropriate information to the readers and motivate them to think and to be aware about current events that affect society; additionally they can undermine important people’s public image by spreading biased information. They do so, in order to provide exclusive stories with the objective of selling more. What is more, distortion of information, invasion of privacy and the dissemination of unfounded news are only a part of a long list of felonies that the written media commits in order to be read all over the world. For instance, many artist are victims of newspaper’s harassment and slander on their good names. In this sense, journalists invade actors or actresses’ privacy or invent stories that affect their integrity and self-image with the aim of getting the scoop. Nevertheless, how is it to be a newsman? My understanding of a reporter is that it is their job to report the news. That doesn’t mean anything beyond telling exactly what happened. The opinions and the slants put on the news by every network, cable and broadcast, are not reporting. They are television. They are looking for advertisers and ratings. They are looking for the best story instead of the truth. They are reality TV – scripted shows pretending to be spontaneous. Now, I do understand that a news reporter has to pre-write the story so they are not sitting there grumping trying to find the words. So, do newspapers have too much freedom? This question lead us to think about how powerful newspapers are and their real incidence in our lives. Moreover, how much freedom is too much? All of this needs to be looked into and needs to be answered. In addition, the media needs to be held much more accountable for the way they cover the news. Otherwise, history is going to show that our democracy fell apart because it was taken advantage of.