Mar 14, 2023
The competition for trust and credibility in the press are far from new. This struggle dates back to at least the late 1800’s when the “yellow journalism” battle between moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst dominated the New York media market. Both were fighting for circulation and ultimately, you know, profit.
There was a time, during my lifetime, that the evidence of conspiratorial lying by a media outlet would destroy that outlet. Readers and viewers, advertisers and investors, would flee the outlet once its credibility was obliterated. Once the media outlet no longer possesses the trust of the public, there would no longer be any value in it.
Pulitzer and Hearst both believed in this.
The First Amendment to the Constitution creates five American rights, or freedoms, that often go unquestioned in our culture. Not always, but often. Most of us grew up believing that freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and to petition the government are the primary freedoms Americans have. But the founders didn’t designate these freedoms because they were cute or profitable, they were designated because of their value to the nation.
The question of “value” is the primary one in the lawsuit of Dominion Voting Systems versus Fox News.
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