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Mindless
Banter
By Steven Lerch Express Editor |
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111 E.
Grand St. P.O. Box 191, Monticello, Iowa 52310
319.465.3555 • mexpress@n-connect.net
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Editor's Column |
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Mindless
Banter
By Steven Lerch Express Editor |
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| Freedom of the press, caution and
celebration needed |
| There are a great many privileges offered in these United States that put the “Pow” in “Power of the Press.” Newspapers across the globe have the option of acting as the “Watch Dog” of society; exposing the “funk” in their community’s dysfunction. Others have tried sensationalism, commonly found in supermarket tabloids, however, it creeps into some more notable publications to increase sales. One thing that I remember most in my journalism studies was reading about our freedom of the press and how far it actually reached. One of the major misconceptions I’ve found in newspapers that I’ve read, which include daily and weekly publications from all over the country, is the abuse of the opinion page. By that I’m referring to the libelous staff columns, letters to the editor and so forth. What is libel? By definition it is slanderous remarks without merit made for the intention to threaten the integrity and or community esteem of the subject in question, whether it is a person or business. Some of the things people put into print are submitted to cause problems for the people or places they are targeting. By the way, this is also illegal, according to the Associated Press: “More recently, in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1990), the Supreme Court made clear that even statements of opinion may constitute libel if ‘sufficiently factual to be proven true or false.’" So, if a court of law finds that a person or business has printed a statement they knew was false and would cause a certain amount of harm to whomever they were referring, then said parties are guilty of libel. Punishments vary. Some go to the publication that allowed the remarks to go to print in the first place, and the rest would go to the author or authors responsible for the writing. Make no mistake; we are talking about large fines here. Don’t get me wrong, there is freedom of the press. We can expose wrongdoing or disdain towards that which is upsetting or unsettling. Take for example the work of Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and their investigative report into the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of former President Nixon. It’s incredible what the freedoms of America can do, which makes working in journalism all the more exciting. (Contact the writer at
slerch@monticelloexpress.com)
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