When I first entered the news business in 1976, The New York Times v. Sullivan 1964 supreme Court decision was one of the first things I learned. The court said the First Amendment gives the press the right to publish all statements. They also said to prove libel, a public official must show that what was printed or broadcast against them was made with actual malice, “that is, with [the] knowledge that it was false or [with] reckless disregard for the truth.”
But now, I’m not sure where the press stands. Further, as a newspaper reporter, I don’t know where I stand.
FOX News, though a liberal news outlet like ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and NBC, did nothing wrong in how they broadcast about the Dominion Voting Machines. The same outlets and others did the same by reporting on the Russian collusion hoax and the Trump dossier, both proven unfounded but continue to be proclaimed as factual.
So, is this where we are at? Litigation to shut down a news item that does not meet the approved narrative?
Worse yet is to watch and listen to the glee being shown by the press after FOX settled with Dominion. They are ecstatic that the First Amendment, to wit: “Congress shall make no law respecting … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” is now in dire jeopardy of being ignored, that soon they will be the official “propaganda arm for the federal government,” more so than they already are.
From where I stand, FOX had no choice but to capitulate and settle the case, knowing that there was a chance they would lose. All one has to do is look at the Manhattan District Attorney and how he is riding rough-shod over the justice system by charging a former U.S. President with a crime never committed.
If this is the new standard, many of us still working in journalism will find ourselves in court instead of the press room. But then, this could be by design as we move toward becoming submissives to an Artificially Intelligent Overlord.
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