It’s evident there is a lot of controversy in the news in regards to our government-every single day. “Fake news,” has turned into something that Donald Trump has used to label or attack on story in the mainstream that essentially didn’t agree with him or went against him in any way. CNN’s Don Lemon said it best to one of his guests on the show, “please stop it with that stupid talking point that is a fake news story. If you don’t want to participate in the news story on this network, then don’t participate, but don’t call them fake because you don’t agree with them.” The term fake news has really taken a new meaning in the last year or so.
The speaker states that in the age of Trump, the press should consider the option to sue. If you are a news organization falsely accused of fabrication, at the expense of your reputation for liable. Jay Seaton, Colorado’s state senator, accused The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (a small newspaper in Colorado) of reporting fake news. It started with the newspapers writing about the state needing to open up state records. There is a bill that should allow citizens to have access to documents requested in their original form, and this bill has come to a halt for unclear reasons. Something that we haven’t really seen, this newspaper company has decided to do something about that and retaliate -- with a lawsuit.
Personally, I think the fake news accusations are utterly ridiculous. The entire purpose of a free press is to allow people to voice opinions from different perspectives. If we didn’t have a free press, like some country, we would be confined without freedom under one or two opinions (that perhaps only the government could approve). When I think of “fake news,” I think of the news articles that have pictures of aliens on them with poorly photoshopped images… not news that our President of The United States doesn’t like. Journalism is a beautiful thing. It allows different ideas, opinions, perspectives, etc. to be heard. When someone with such great power takes that beauty and freedom away, how can we stand for this? It’s truly one of the most shameful things I’ve seen thus far.
I think sueing in the name of your reputation is a good idea. As cliche as it sounds, we can’t allow bullies with higher power to step all over the media whenever they feel. It’s ridiculous, and it’s happened way to frequently. If I were a news organization, I would absolutely sue over this. It’s time to take a stand for what’s right, and not what’s mainstream.
I can definitely see where you are coming from when you say that people need to see other perspectives and we should not be able to take the freedom of press away, but at the same time where is the line? Because I mean it is one thing to state and opinion or publish a story, but when that story has crazy things that are just not true and make somebody look really bad even though it is not true is that really okay? Because I mean that could really ruin somebodies reputation and just everything they have going. I just think there needs to be a line somewhere.
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