NationStates Jolt Archive

I was thinking about the the Bill of Rights, and othe U.S. documents, and I justremembered theres nothing in it say that the press can't lie, so how do we know cetain stuff is true that they say.

1.) We don't

2.) You can be sued for slander or libel, which is making a false, defamatory claim.

We don't
Why would the bill of rights of all things say that the press can't lie?
You do know that there are press agencies outside the US, right?

Actually this has been a developing problem since the Reagan administration did away with the limits on broadcast ownership (creating local monopolies), the Fairness Doctrine, and the Equal Time Doctrine. Before that there were enough sources of news that if one lied there were others. And even that one had to balance their reports. All of that went out under "deregulation" and over time the competition of voices has been destroyed.

Due to the nature of news and the amount of analysis that is added it is hard to pin down an exact truth. Thus legislating with regards to the truth would be fruitless.

Actually this has been a developing problem since the Reagan administration did away with the limits on broadcast ownership (creating local monopolies), the Fairness Doctrine, and the Equal Time Doctrine. Before that there were enough sources of news that if one lied there were others. And even that one had to balance their reports. All of that went out under "deregulation" and over time the competition of voices has been destroyed.

The competition of voices is stronger than ever. Virtually anyone who has anything to say can now say it for the world to hear thanks to the internet.

in a totally unrelated story...

on the carribean island country of aruba, there is no law saying that advertising has to be true in any way shape or form.

so a local guy who imports cuban cigars to sell to tourists puts an ad in the tourist newspaper once or twice a week claiming that he grows tobacco locally and manufactures an aruba cigar from it.

a complete and utter lie.

The competition of voices is stronger than ever. Virtually anyone who has anything to say can now say it for the world to hear thanks to the internet.

That is becoming true, but as of today most people are most influenced by radio, TV and newspapers, mostly local.