Freedom and Responsibility

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Freedom and Responsibility

• Thomas Abraham

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• We begin our story with Henry Luce, the founder
  of Time magazine.

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• In 1942 Luce, was puzzled by a question he could
  not answer. So he asked Robert Hutchins, an
  eminent legal scholar and president of Chicago
  University.
• His question was I know what my freedoms are,
  but what are my responsibilities?
• Hutchins reply I dunno
• Why dont you form a Commission to find out?

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Why was Luce asking this question?

• The modern media age began in the 18th century.
  Throughout the western world governmental
  restrictions on the press began to be removed
• The growth of literacy, and the arrival of new
  printing technology had made it possible for a
  mass media to emerge
• Based on 19th century liberal theory, it was
  assumed that a media market in which newspapers
  were privately owned, would best serve societys
  need for accurate, unbiased information

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• It was thought that press ownership would be
  widely dispersed, and that there would be many
  different kinds of news paper reflecting many
  different kinds of opinions
• It was assumed that the press would be a market
  place for ideas, and that individuals would be
  able to use the press to reflect their ideas and
  opinions

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But by the early 20th century problems had begun
to appear

• Press barons like William Randolph Hearst and
  Joseph Pulitzer discovered that newspapers based
  on gory murders and sensational stories were
  commercially very successful.
• Luce commented in 1937 There is no significant
  restraint on vulgarity, sensationalism, or even
  incitement to criminality.

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• Instead of being a free market place of ideas,
  owners and editors determined what voices could
  be heard the freedom of the press, appeared
  increasingly to be the freedom of press owners
• It was no longer easy for individuals to set up
  newspapers and the number of voices in the media
  began to reduce
• Many thinking people were uneasy with the
  direction that the press was taking- did press
  freedom exist merely to benefit newspaper owners?

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• So Luce asked I know what my freedoms are, but
  what are my responsibilities?
• Luce provided US 200,000 for Hutchins to form a
  commission of eminent thinkers to go into this
  question
• Hutchins assembled a stellar cast of thinkers,
  including the philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr, and
  the poet Archibald MacLeish

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The commission was worried about what it found

• Declining numbers of newspapers, and declining
  competition. The number of cities with newspaper
  monopolies had increased
• The number of tabloids specialising in sensation
  and trivia had increased
• Newspaper proprietors were shaping news to
  reflect their views. A survey of Washington
  reporters found that 56 said their stories had
  been altered, cut, or not published because of
  their owners policies

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In 1947, the Commission set out five functions
the press should perform

• Provide a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent
  account of the days events in a context that
  gives them meaning
• Provide a forum for the exchange of commentary
  and criticism
• The projection of a representative picture of the
  constituent groups in society
• Provide a method of presenting and clarifying the
  goals and values of society
• Provide a full access to the days intelligence
  to all

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• The press is given freedom in order to perform
  these functions.
• The Commissions report was important because it
  established the idea that press freedom has a
  definite social purpose.
• In the words of the Commission, the press should
  be free and responsible.

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The commission suggested that press freedom
should be linked to responsibility

• Freedom of the press for the coming period can
  only continue as an accountable freedom. Its
  moral right will be conditioned on its acceptance
  of this accountability

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The newspaper industry hated the report

• A free press, Hitler style sought for the US
  Chicago Tribune
• The word responsible, as used by the
  Commission, is no different from censorship The
  Wall Street Journal
• Im sick and tired of criticisms of the
  press..responsible people in this country had
  better start showing more appreciation of the
  press. Paul Thompson, Chair of Journalism at the
  University of Texas

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The libertarian argument

• A newspaper is a private enterprise owing
  nothing whatever to the public, which grants it
  no franchise. It is therefore affected with no
  public interest. It is emphatically the property
  of the owner who is selling a manufactured
  product at his own risk.-William Peter Hamilton,
  editor of the Wall Street Journal in the 1920s.

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Some problems with the Commission report

• Their ideal of a serious high minded serious
  press was wonderful, but did people want this?
• "If the people will not buy a good newspaper and
  will buy a poor one, what is a businessman to
  do? Robert Hutchins
• One commission member said we have to ask the
  press to be better than the public- is that
  possible?

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• Who was to ensure, or make moves towards a more
  responsible press?
• The commission toyed with the idea of suggesting
  an independent commission that would be charged
  with setting standards for the press, examining
  cases of bad reporting and so on, but never made
  any firm proposals

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The dilemma

• An accurate, independent, serious minded press is
  essential if people in a society are to be able
  to monitor their government, and form opinions on
  important matters
• Very few people seem to want to read such
  newspapers- the most popular and profitable
  newspapers are those that report sensational
  stories
• What should the news industry do? Give people
  whatever it is they want, or to produce serious
  journalism?

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The Mohammad Cartoon controversy

• On September 30,2005, a Danish newspaper
  Jyllands-Posten printed 12 cartoons of the
  Prophet Mohammad in an attempt to raise issues of
  freedom of expression.

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The Mohammad Cartoon controversy

• On September 30,2005, a Danish newspaper
  Jyllands-Posten printed 12 cartoons of the
  Prophet Mohammad in an attempt to raise issues of
  freedom of expression.

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Why?

• The modern, secular society is rejected by some
  Muslims. They demand a special position,
  insisting on special consideration of their own
  religious feelings. It is incompatible with
  contemporary democracy and freedom of speech,
  where you must be ready to put up with insults,
  mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always
  attractive and nice to look at, and it does not
  mean that religious feelings should be made fun
  of at any price, but that is of minor importance
  in the present context. ... we are on our way
  to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the
  self-censorship will end.. Flemming Rose,
  culture editor of Jyllands-Posten

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Muslims were upset. Why?

• Islamic traditions generally forbid the pictorial
  or other depictions of the Prophet
• The content of the drawings were considered
  offensive one in particular showed Mohammad as a
  terrorist, with a bomb in his turban
• Denmarks Muslim community already felt
  vulnerable after 9/11, and felt this was another
  attack on them

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Worldwide response

• Initially, very little. In 2005, an Egyptian
  newspaper reprinted the cartoons with a critical
  commentary, without attracting criticism
• But as newspapers in more European countries,
  and several in the Islamic world began reprinting
  the cartoons, protests grew, and editors were
  fired in some cases.
• Most US, Canadian and UK newspapers reported the
  controversy but did not publish the cartoons

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Economic and Social Cost

• Danish and Norwegian embassies were set on fire
  in a few countries
• Street riots. Between 40-50 people are estimated
  to have died in violence related to the protests
• Goods from Denmark boycotted by customs across
  the Middle East

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• You are the editor in chief of a newspaper in a
  country with people from different religions and
  ethnicities living together
• The cartoon controversy and the riots are the big
  story of the day.
• Members of the Muslim community have phoned to
  you please not print the cartoons and inflame
  people.
• But some of your senior editors are in support of
  printing the cartoons, because they see it as an
  important press freedom issue You cannot bow to
  possible threats and allow self censorship
• Other colleagues feel that it would unnecessarily
  upset Muslims in the country and perhaps provoke
  violence We have the right to print the
  cartoons, but it is not the right thing to do.
  People already know about them, so why print them
  again?
• You need to decide How will you report the
  story. Will you print the cartoons? How will you
  justify your decision?