Libel, Orwell, 3 Mile Island

Chapter 22 was all about media law, and spent a good amount of time talking about libel specifically. The book states that the best way to avoid libel is to be truthful; what we have been taught is the most important aspect of journalism. I sometimes feel as though libel should not even be an issue, seeing as journalism is all about reporting the facts. If everyone journalist stayed truthful, and those being written about were truthful, such a thing would not even exist.

Unfortunately though, in this day and age, there are untruthful reporters. There are journalists who print false information. And there are also people who read an article in which they are quoted or written about and are dissatisfied with the way in which they are portrayed.

Our book says that if you are truthful, you have nothing to worry about and, more often than not, the legal system will take care of it and rule in favor of the press. This is somewhat comforting. However, what bothers me more than the thought of having the court rule in favor of the individual over the press is just the fact, alone, that any journalist can be accused of libel. You can be the most truthful journalist in the world, but if you happen to piss someone off, you never know what might happen.

I guess that is the risk we are willing to take as journalists though. We report as truthfully and accurately as we possibly can, present the information to the public, and then at that point it is completely out of our hands. You just need to have faith in the public and trust that you will not be questioned.

I found the Orwell reading interesting. He states that the English language is declining and offers a few pieces of advice as to how to fix it. The reason he gives for this decline of the English language is that language mimics society. Therefore, our society is declining.

I thought that the few basic rules he ends the reading with were particularly helpful. They do seem simple, but are great things to keep in mind while writing. We have all been in a situation where we are writing for a deadline, become unfocused or are just tired and have an impulse to throw in a phrase that you have heard before. The fact of the matter is, why use something that someone else has already said when you can use your own words?

The Three Mile Island reading helped to re-enforce the idea that as journalists, we are going to have to write stories about things in which we have little or no previous knowledge about. All I have to say on the subject is that it is nice to know that it wasn't just me that had some difficulty writing that story; even professionals have a hard time with some stories as well.