Running head: JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 1

Transcription

1 Running head: JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 1 Freedom of Speech: United States vs. United Kingdom Juliana Ordonez JRN 339 Global Journalism Andrea Dilworth April 23, 2018

2 JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 2 Freedom of Speech: United States vs. United Kingdom Most people think of democracy as a way of converting individual choices to social policies. They are wrong. A democracy is only good when all citizens participate in its governance. When there are no intrinsic prohibitions, most voters may perpetrate abuses against minorities. The Founding Fathers perfectly understood this concept and decided to create a system to protect everyone from potential political harm. To achieve this goal, they identified and prohibited violations of certain rights, which they believed all Americans had entitlement to in the Bill of Rights. For example, the First Amendment says, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The Founding Fathers prioritized such freedoms to limit the impact of religion in politics and to regulate the new government (Jacquette, 2007). Other countries like England do not explicitly express that right within their constitutions. Even though there is no administrative press censorship since 1694 in the United Kingdom, journalists and publishers enjoy great freedom of expression. However, English common law does not expressly define the rights to freedom of speech or freedom of the press as the First Amendment within the U.S. Constitution. As a matter of fact, there is not even a statute equivalent to France s 1881 Law of the Press, which strongly announces freedom of the press and promotes the publication of newspapers or periodicals. Great Britain only recognizes freedom of speech through the Human Rights Act of 1998 (HRA). Article 10 of the HRA guarantees English citizens and journalists to express their opinions without fear of government reprisals to certain extent. Nevertheless, public authorities can restrict this right when an expression represents a threat to the public, provokes disorders and crimes, discloses information received in confidence (Barendt, 2009). To Americans, such limitations might mean a cessation

3 JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 3 of expressing an individual s opinion freely. But, to the British is a way of protecting society from harmful speech that could lead to criminal actions. The International News Safety Institute determined in a 2007 study that local an overwhelming number of local journalists die for pursuing stories that governments or authorities do not want published or broadcasted (Owen & Prudery, 2009). This is not the case for English journalists though. Yet, there are other ways to restrict the press in the United Kingdom. A very common way to limit the role of the press as a society watchdog is through the English laws of trespass and libel. The English law regards a person s reputation as a piece of his or her property. When you harm an individual s reputation by stating something false about him or her, you may be required to pay damages to that person English public officials and public figures are protected under this legislation. The press does not have this restriction in America. U.S. public figures and public officials must prove actual malice in a libel lawsuit. This means that the plaintiff should demonstrate that the defendant knows the statement is false or has reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the statement (Stovall, 2015). Another difference among both democracies is the organizational structure of the press. Media companies in America and England operate differently. For example, CNN Digital has a worldwide president, vice president/managing editor, vice president and senior editorial director, vice president of products and operations, vice president of technology and product development, and reporters. The vice president managing editor oversees the digital video team. The vice president and senior editorial director runs the homepage of CNN.com and programs or edits the television content. The vice president of products and operations manages business operations such advertisement sales for mobile, video, and web. The vice president of technology and product development manages social media organizations (Weprin, 2013). In contrast, the

4 JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 4 Guardian has an executive committee of a chief executive officer, editor-in-chief, chief financial officer, chief customer officer, chief digital officer, and deputy editor. The chief executive officer is responsible for all commercial operations such as marketing, jobs, revenues, memberships, and commercial deliveries in the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia. The editor-inchief supervises all editing departments. The chief financial officer manages the investment fund and legal functions of the newspaper. The chief customer officer is responsible for contributions programmers. The chief digital officer innovates technology strategies and management systems. The deputy editor supervises specialized reporters of news, business, and sports (The Guardian, 2018). Another way journalism has changed in the United Kingdom is through technology. Technology has always shaped journalism. The first daily gazette, the Acta Diurna, distributed information carved on stone in Rome. Then, the Gutenberg s press laid the foundation for the invention of the newspaper. The invention of the phone changed the way journalists gather and report the news. News industries introduced the telephone in the early 1990s allowing journalists to conduct most interviews over the phone. The internet, now, allows journalists conduct interviews via , gather information on public records, and check facts (Pavlik, 2000). It initially presented challenges, but most journalists in Great Britain believe the digital age had a positive impact on journalism because it can help journalists to disseminate their stories quicker to a larger audience.

5 JRN 339 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT 5 References Barendt, E. (2009). Freedom of Expression in the United Kingdom Under the Human Rights Act Indiana Law Journal, 84(3), GNM Executive Committee. (2018, March 13). Retrieved from Jacquette, D. (2007). Journalistic Ethics: Moral Responsibility in the Media. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Owen, J. & Purdey, H. (Eds.). (2009). International news reporting: Frontlines and deadlines. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Pavlik, J. (2000). The Impact of Technology on Journalism. Journalism Studies 1(2), Stovall, J. G. (2015). Writing for the mass media (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Weprin, A. (2013, April 4). CNN.com Getting New Homepage and Organizational Structure. Retrieved from