Mister Pterodactyl
Monday, May 23, 2005
 
More Random Thoughts
You know, I'm absolutely opposed to any sort of curtailment of the freedom of the press, but I can’t help wondering if there shouldn’t be some kind of sanction for egregious abuse of that freedom. Of course I’m thinking of Newsweek’s latest tour de force. Is there some way a body could be established that would impose financial penalties on media that print false stories?
Here’s an idea: a sort of UN (no jokes) of big time MSMers, one that would elect members of a committee charged with enforcing the standards they keep talking about. The committee would have power to punish the worst examples of bad journalism through fines or suspensions (say) and the outlets that joined would agree to abide by them. We’d have the satisfaction of seeing malfeasance dealt with, the standards of professional journalism would be upheld, and the member outlets would earn a little more trust from the public. Everybody wins!

I know, I’m dreaming. Don’t drink and blog!


I was going to have a whole series of "Random Thoughts" posts, but I was reading back a little and it occurred to me that, well, my thoughts are all pretty much random. Stopping now.
Comments:
It would be ideal if they took a big financial hit by loss of sales. The National Enquirer, Star, and Newsweek. (Liesweek?)

It appears as though much of the MSM is in slow decline in popularity. That may be a very good sign.
 
I think this problem will take care of itself as the MSM continues to stab itself repeatedly in the eye with crappy quality of reporting.

I'm against any sort of federal action against them, since having the biggest source of lies and theft in the nation punishing other sources makes no sense.
 
No, seriously, how do you get past the first few zombies?

I'm telling Vodkapundit you said not to drink and blog.
 
We have a Minnesota News Council that does just that. They don't work much, and apparently the Star Tribune is off limits, but they've censured a few reporters.
 
I don't think that freedom of the press needs to include the "freedom" to tell lies and pass them off as the truth. If you've got a position of power and influence over the minds of the people, you need to maintain standards; if no standards or rules apply to you, you've got absolute power, and we all know what THAT does...
 
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