I ask the question not as a means of censorship, or to limit free speech, but as a way to be sure that Media that want to be labeled as News stick to reporting facts, the 5 "W's" if you will. If a report chooses to use opinionated adjectives it would be called entertainment. If a media outlet regularly violates the defined protocol it would be classified as entertainment.

We did that before and we got conservative talk radio.

So, yes, and no.

No

No. The public should be educated.

(10-15-2013 08:30 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  No. The public should be educated.

What's scary is the younger generations just don't care. There is a significant number of under 30's that consider Colbert and Maher news. When they hear Brian Williams on NBC say The Mess in Washington caused by the shutdown, the can't separate that statement as his opinion from facts of what's going on. Nothing is broken no vital services denied and it's Obama's choice as to closing the parks, but those very public facilities give the appearance of serious problems.

1st amendment... NO!

(10-15-2013 08:30 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  No. The public should be educated.

Yes.. truly unfortunate if the public was educated with facts instead of opinions.

(10-15-2013 08:37 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  

(10-15-2013 08:30 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  No. The public should be educated.

What's scary is the younger generations just don't care. There is a significant number of under 30's that consider Colbert and Maher news. When they hear Brian Williams on NBC say The Mess in Washington caused by the shutdown, the can't separate that statement as his opinion from facts of what's going on. Nothing is broken no vital services denied and it's Obama's choice as to closing the parks, but those very public facilities give the appearance of serious problems.

They'll care when they vote their rights away and become property. They'll learn real quick how badly they have been mislead when the federal govt controls every aspect of their life. Instead of worrying about gay marriage, drug wars and women's rights, they ought to learn about the evils of Marxism, the far left and communism. They need to learn how it is implemented and the warning signs that it is beginning to take hold. Right now our younger generations are completely ignorant -actually helping it along.

(10-15-2013 08:37 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  1st amendment... NO!

Not saying NBC couldn't have a program that reported events across the nation, just saying if they venture from facts, they would not be able to call their program NBC nightly NEWS. They could call it NBC nightly report and say whatever they want.

Regulated? No. But they need a code of ethics.

(10-15-2013 08:43 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Regulated? No. But they need a code of ethics.

They have one. They just don't follow it. You cannot make them. The media is controlled almost exclusively by liberals. I went through journalism school. Most of my classmates wore "Bush lied, people died" t shirts.

The only way to change the media is to add balance. Fox is a good start, but the conservatives need to do to networks and print what they have done to cable and radio.

(10-15-2013 08:41 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  

(10-15-2013 08:37 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  1st amendment... NO!

Not saying NBC couldn't have a program that reported events across the nation, just saying if they venture from facts, they would not be able to call their program NBC nightly NEWS. They could call it NBC nightly report and say whatever they want.

And they dont' already?

(10-15-2013 08:53 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  

(10-15-2013 08:41 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  

(10-15-2013 08:37 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  1st amendment... NO!

Not saying NBC couldn't have a program that reported events across the nation, just saying if they venture from facts, they would not be able to call their program NBC nightly NEWS. They could call it NBC nightly report and say whatever they want.

And they dont' already?

Journalists consider themselves to be professionals. Other professions have rules or they can't hold themselves out as a professional. CPAs have rules, break them and lose their license, then they can't offer Audit services. Lawyers have rules they must follow or be disbarred and not allowed offer legal services. Why shouldn't journalists have some standard to be held to or lose their right to report news. They can play like Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert, but not pretend to be a serious journalist like Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, etc.

Laws in this country against libel and slander should be strictly enforced. When an anchor has to start writing significant checks for misreporting facts, it will get his/her attention.

Who is going to regulate them? The government? God help us!

Basically what I was going to say. The blatant lies are not something that should be on television.
If hosts want to make commentary, maybe they should wear Jester hats, and have a disclaimer flashing across the
screen. Most people cannot tell the lies from the truth and it comes at you 200 MPH.
Fine programs for lies. Increase the fines if they continue to lie.

If we limited the media to facts, say goodbye to CNN, MSNBC, and Foxnews. The media is capable of doing more than just taint something with a liberal or conservative tone. It's pretty easy to make an issue look like a 50/50 deal by manipulating airtime, when in reality, it's almost completely one sided.

Most of the people posting here would like you to believe that your facts are opinions, and that their opinions are fact. I have no reason to believe that regulation would lead to Americans actually getting untainted facts.

Also relevant to the discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_media_effect

Neutral reporting is often seen as having a hostile bias by partisans on either side of an issue. If we just report the facts, who's to say that people won't just see it as bias anyways?

Would be great to just have facts on television.
Other words, tell the truth or get fined is fine by me.

(10-15-2013 11:02 PM)TheDancinMonarch Wrote:  Who is going to regulate them? The government? God help us!

The media is already regulated, and it's name is Warren Buffett.

(10-16-2013 01:05 AM)dmacfour Wrote:  If we limited the media to facts, say goodbye to CNN, MSNBC, and Foxnews. The media is capable of doing more than just taint something with a liberal or conservative tone. It's pretty easy to make an issue look like a 50/50 deal by manipulating airtime, when in reality, it's almost completely one sided.

Most of the people posting here would like you to believe that your facts are opinions, and that their opinions are fact. I have no reason to believe that regulation would lead to Americans actually getting untainted facts.

Also relevant to the discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_media_effect

Neutral reporting is often seen as having a hostile bias by partisans on either side of an issue. If we just report the facts, who's to say that people won't just see it as bias anyways?

So the answer would be for schools to teach the difference between fact and opinion but that would require schools to teach.