Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Actually those are two different issues. :-) 1: No, a journalist needs no permission to do a story on the mall's discriminating against theriff-raff. In fact, it is that journalist's obligation to do so. As long as the story is fair andbalanced (unlike Fox news which brings new meaning to irony every time that use thatphrase), but even if it is not, they have a right to publish it. But they better be willing to taketheir lumps if they intentionally damage the mall's reputation without any basis in fact. TruthIS a defense in the press defensing themselves. 2: Anyone who calls him or herself a journalist is a journalist. That's the genius of the USconstitution. Anyone with a pen, computer and/or camera can be a journalist. If doesn'tmatter if anyone even sees their output. And no one has a right to stop them from reportingwhat they see and hear in any media they choose. It's up to people to decide on whether agiven journalist is believable or not. Matt Drudge is the poster child for that. Over and overagain he's proven to be not only mistaken, but flat out loose with the facts way too often. Butlots of people give him all sorts of respect he doesn't deserve. Why? Because he says whatthey want to hear. Good or bad, that's what makes life so interesting here in the States. We have to think forourselves, or we risk being lead down the primrose path. But it's our choice. Not thegovernment's, not big business', nobody but ourselves. >> Let's say the mall in in a posh outer suburb but that there are >> communication lines with the inner-city scum so that they turn up at >> the mall and bother these beautiful people out in the burbs. So the >> owners of the private property start barring certain elements from >> their malls. They hurt the neighborhood, so to say. >> >> Now this would be news. Would the journalist have to go to the PR >> people of the mall and ask their permission to do an article on racial >> discrimination at the mall? > > Excellent point. It begs the question as to whether we as a society > seek to exclude the undesirables. I think that has been done with some > success in India. We once had a "Great Society" movement in this > country to provide opportunity for the less privileged. > > I am somewhat troubled by the distinction between journalist and > documentarian. Do the wonderful photographs posted today by John > Beeching not provide an historical slice of life which deserves respect > equal to that of the breaking news journalist? Eric Carlsbad, CA http://www.jphotog.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html