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Highlands Today

Is freedom of speech being threatened?

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By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: October 21, 2009

It appears that President Obama or his staff has decided that the Fox News Channel on TV and Sirius radio is not a friend of his and has taken issue with them regarding their quality as a news broadcasting station. Obama and his staff have taken issue with the Fox News channel by qualifying them as not a real news station because of allowing too much perspective and criticism in their reporting while the other stations report the news as they are expected to do and going along with whatever so as not to anger or challenge the current administration.

Proof required

Journalism at one time in the past was taught to students to be a means of getting the factual news to the population in an unbiased fashion and to not guess about what happened in any situation without proof of what they write or report. Guessing on the part of the reporter as to the cause of an accident, a situation, criminal activity, political actions, or any other news was not permitted. The editors wanted proof or statements from qualified investigators that would hold up in court about whatever the reporter was writing or broadcasting.

Opinions regulated

There are many stations and other media outlets that still hold true to that philosophy. However, as of late, perhaps in the past 20-30 years, politics and personal philosophies have made their way into the press, radio and TV media. It may have been the bottom line of profit making that caused many to start giving opinions and personal interpretations as to what politicians were saying in order to give the viewers and readers some idea of what was happening. Newspapers and other media became known for being liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. In the recent 20 or so years, voters and the general population watched or listened to only the TV or radio stations that they believed supported their political beliefs. Depending upon which party was in office determined whether or not a reporter was allowed to ask the questions at news conferences.

Freedom of speech is at risk

It is being broadcast by the talk show hosts that there is a move to shut down the more conservative and/or critical talking heads, or at least make the radio stations give equal time to opposing liberal views or at least limit the time of the critical talkers.

I can recall back in the early '50s when I was in the U. S. Air Force listening to my superiors in their briefing sessions telling us that we were United States government property and that we were not allowed, under penalty of court marshal, to criticize the government or the president. The military was under the command of the president and he was the commander in chief of all the armed forces. Opinions were not allowed.

Politics is not a science in which facts can prove a point of view to be true. It also may be because of science that the media has drifted away from reporting the facts since even the scientists have strayed from facts and are now-a-days speculating. In recent years facts of science have been proven not to be true and other theories and ideas are being presented which may in later years again prove that the only correct science is that the Earth is round and circles the Sun.

So far Fox has been more right than wrong in their opinions and reporting.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

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