Journalists today received a refresher course on the importance of the first amendment.
“You are the front lines and the implementers of freedom of speech, justice, and democracy,” said Nadine Strossen, professor at New York Law School and author of “HATE: Why We Should Resist It With Free Speech, Not Censorship.”
Strossen said there are ethical considerations that beginning journalists should keep in mind when exercising their First Amendment rights, particularly when addressing sensitive situations, such as a protest.
Strossen said it’s okay to talk to someone off the record. “However, once they are out there in public, it’s our right as journalists to ethically cover
situations in the interest of the public good.”
Israel Balderes, assistant professor of journalism at Elon University, recalls an instance where he encouraged journalism students in a campus newsroom he advised to balance ethics and information that the public should be aware of.
“Students were protesting, and while a student was reporting, they said, ‘Don’t take pictures of us,’” Balderes said. “Student journalists self-censor when they want to be careful of others… (but) it is our right to record the scene.”
Defamation, infringement, and intellectual harm are to be avoided in the nature of good journalism at all costs, Strossen said. Even within good journalism, people are subject to emotional harm, she said.
Journalists are going to hear ideas that are deeply offensive, Strossen said. You have to not let those ideas affect you; rather, report and relay that information to the public unbiased, she said.
“Many Jewish people hear chants ‘from the river to the sea,’” Strossen said. “They hear it as advocating genocide; however, it would still be constitutionally protected.”
Key points to remember about the equality of the First Amendment when it comes to journalists are that student journalists have the same free speech rights as professional journalists. Every citizen of the United States has the same rights as professional journalists, Strossen said.
Journalists should be aware that they have a responsibility to convey the message of the people responsibly within that right, Strossen said. “Exercising the First Amendment right through journalism should give all journalists a sense of pride,” she said.
“Journalism has been described as the 4th branch of government,” Strossen said. “You can’t promote any other cause without freedom of speech.”
Journalism prepares people to be resilient, Strossen said. “The idea of harm is an ethical principle; minimize harm, how you balance those considerations for the public good,” she said.