Has Freedom of the Press gone too far?

Talia Shifron
To You Editor, Fused

Freedom of the Press is one of the most important First Amendment rights that is guaranteed by the constitution. However, is it possible that the media has taken this right too far? Is the job of the media to create news or just to report it? While the media has a right to report the news, their job is not to shape public opinion based on their personal views.

With the creation of 24 hour news networks, media is now sharing their personal views within the mix. For example Fox News is now known as the more conservative or perhaps more republican news channel, and in watching their coverage of news, this bias is obvious. On the other hand, MSNBC is widely known as one of the more liberal news networks. These are views that the public should not know about just by watching the coverage of the news.

While the press should never be censored, there is a certain inherent responsibility that comes with being a member of the media. With every right there comes responsibility, and this is certainly true in the case of the media. It is not right for the media to be convincing people to change their views based on the biases of those covering the news.

The responsibilities that go with Freedom of the Press need to be taken very seriously by all journalists. News networks need to make sure that by reporting the news they are sticking only to reporting the news and not going off on tangents about personal beliefs. If 24 hours of news is too long for networks to be able to report news without sharing biases, then news time should be shortened. Everything that’s reported in the news should be simply for the public to stay informed and that purpose only.