Freedom of speech is a necessary precondition for the ethical practice of journalism

I appreciate Professor Ryan bringing the case of New York Times v. Sullivan to our class. The Supreme Court's opinion on this case not only provided a guideline for America’s courts and media, but also set a good example for countries that have not had freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Without freedom of speech and of the press, there will be no truth and objectivity in journalism. In autocratic countries, governments control the media. The media is publicly claimed to be “the voice of government”, or even worse, “the voice of a party”. When the media’s loyalty belongs to the dominator, instead of the public, they can arbitrarily fake or distort the fact. For example, even now, the government controlled media in North Korea and China claim that the cause of the Korean War, in the 1950s, was South Korea trying to annex North Korea, and America attempting to invade China. They further claim that the Chinese army got involved in the Korean War because they had to protect their own country. Even for current affairs, news reports have to serve political purpose. For example, when an epidemic disease occurs (AIDS, SARS, H1N1, etc.), whether or not the media should report it, how to report it, and how much can be reported, all depends on the possible “social effect”, not what the truth is. On May 8th this year, China’s official Xinhua New Net published an article titled, “Experts say: when reporting the epidemic situation, the basic principle for the media is how to stabilize the public’s mood.”

In recent years, in some Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma, the change to a commercial society and the emergence of high-tech have begun to hit back at the government and its media. Small commercial newspapers, radio and TV programs, websites and blogs have opened up some space for more “free” media coverage and discussion. But, quite often, when they criticize a local government or an official, the government or official will use their power to punish the media and the journalists. Sometimes, the officials use a more “democratic” way to punish the offenders: sue the media or journalist in court. Unfortunately, most of the time, the media or journalists are penalized by the accusation of “faking the news” or “libel”. Every year, there are journalists being put in jail for their criticism of government or an official. When a country’s political and legal system can not provide a basic safeguard for journalism, it is very hard for journalists in these countries to do their job based on their professional values. That is why I say, freedom of speech and of the press is a precondition for the ethical practice of journalism.

Annie