Does the American Press Have a Duty to Warn?

[dlk]

Link to a timely article:

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/05/journalists-also-have-a-duty-to-warn-are-we-starting-to-do-our-jobs/

[LisaM]

1. Interesting.

I would argue that they also had this duty during the campaign, when they were more concerned with the size of rallies or the bluster of the speaker rather than examining the candidates' proposals or plans, which come through better in smaller, more targeted settings.

[procon]

2. Anyone of a certain age remembers when that was always the norm.

Journalists pointed fingers at the liars, cheats and frauds, and told the public exactly why, how, when, who and what happened. They asked the uncomfortable questions, they didn't allow politicians to get away with reciting self promotional ads, they were journalists. To repeat the money quote from the article about today's journalists “So they've bent over backwards to appear 'balanced' -- and in the process made themselves useless and irrelevant."

I think part of the reluctance to call out the facts from the lies, is the columns would be heavily loaded against Republicans, and they would immediately scream 'bias' rather than correct their own shortcomings and rectify the problems in their party. In my experience, it's the inherent nature of the beast, far too many Republicans are unethical, immoral and duplicitous, and thy payoff is too great foe them to stop.