Here is the presentation that accompanied the lecture on the First Amendment and the Code of Ethics as formulated by the ASNE and SPJ.

1. Journalism Ethics
JRN 450
First Amendment / Code of Ethics
Prof. Hanley

2. First
Amendment
/ Code of
Ethics

3. “Congress shall make
no law respecting an
establishment of
religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise
thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech,
or of the press

4. “; or the right of the
people peaceably to
assemble, and to
petition the
Government for a
redress of grievances.”

5. The U.S. Supreme
Court has held in many
cases that the First
Amendment is not
absolute but that it
should be as close to
that as possible.

6. But … is that what the
framers of the Bill of
Rights had in mind
based on their close
reading of classical
texts?

7. Walter Lippman (1889-
1974) was a journalist
who concluded that
the framers did not see
the First Amendment
as an absolute right for
speech or publication
of everything.

8. In his book Essays in
Public Philosophy,
published in 1955
(Atlantic Monthly Press,
Boston.) saw the U.S.
headed for disaster
because of a
misinterpretation of
the First Amendment.

9. “Only within a
community which
adheres to public
philosophy is there
sure and sufficient
ground for the freedom
to think and to ask
questions, to speak and
to publish.

10. “Nobody can justify in
principle, much less in
practice, claim that
there exists an
unrestricted right to
anything he likes at any
time he chooses,”
Lippman wrote. (124)

11. He quotes Aristotle:
"The ability to raise
searching difficulties on
both sides of a subject
will make us detect
more easily the truth
and error about the
several points that
arise.“

12. Lippman thus wrote
that, “the right to
speak freely is one of
the necessary means to
the attainment of the
truth.

13. That, and “not the
subjective pleasure of
utterance, is why
freedom is necessary in
the good society.” (125)

14. Lippman was
describing the Socratic
dialogue, where the
point is to arrive at the
truth, not take part in a
test of strength.

15. What happens, though,
when the conversation,
falls apart because of
nonsense, Lippman
noted.

16. “ …. when the chaff of
silliness, baseness, and
deception is so
voluminous that it
submerges the kernels
of truth,

17. ”… freedom of speech
may produce such
frivolity, or such
mischief, that it cannot
be preserved against
the demand
for a restoration of
order or of decency.”

18. ”… If there, is a dividing
line between liberty
and license, it is where
freedom of speech is
no longer respected as
a procedure of the
truth …

19. ”… and becomes the
unrestricted right to
exploit the ignorance,
and to incite the
passions, of the
people.”

20. ”… Then
freedom is such a
hullabaloo of sophistry,
propaganda,
special pleading,
lobbying, and
salesmanship …

21. “ … that it is difficult to
remember why
freedom of speech is
worth the pain and
trouble of defending
it.” (126)

22. “Because the dialectical
debate is a procedure*
for attaining moral and
political truth, the right
to speak is protected
by a willingness to
debate.” (127)

23. The problem, Lippman
wrote, is that modern
media (of his time,
mainly newspapers)
focused on the
something else entirely.

24. The problem, Lippman
wrote, is that modern
media (of his time,
movies, radio and
newspapers) focused
on the something else
entirely.

25. “For the modern media
of mass
communication do not
lend themselves easily
to a confrontation of
opinions …

26. “… For the audience,
tuning on and tuning
off here and there,
cannot be counted
upon to hear, even in
summary form, the
essential evidence on
all the significant sides
of a question.” (129)

27. That means freedom of
speech isn’t working as
the framers designed,
according to Lippman.

28. “Yet when genuine
debate is lacking,
freedom of speech
does not work as it is
meant to work …

29. “… It has lost the
principle which
regulates it and justifies
it —that is to say,
dialectic conducted
according to logic and
the rules of
evidence ...

30. “… If there is no
effective debate, the
unrestricted right to
speak will unloose so
many propagandists,
procurers, and
panderers upon the
public …

31. “ … that sooner or later
in self-defense the
people will turn to the
censors to protect
them.” (129)

32. Or the democracy falls
apart.

33. “There is then a
general tendency to be
drawn downward, as by
the force of gravity,
towards insolvency,
towards the insecurity
of factionalism,

34. “towards the erosion of
liberty, and towards
hyperbolic wars.” (46)

35. Lippman did not ignore
the irony of the
predicament created
by First Amendment
protection of speech
and the press, broadly
defined.

36. “But when they (i.e.,
authoritarians) attain
power, they destroy
the liberal democratic
institutions on which,
as on a broad staircase,
they climbed to
power.” (131)

37. Lippman wrote his piece
32 years after the
American Society of
Newspaper Editors
published the first Code of
Ethics in 1923, followed in
1926 by one promulgated
by the Society of
Professional Journalists.

38. The codes are similar in
approaches to ethical
practice for the simple
reason the SPJ
borrowed the ASNE’s
framework, until 1973.

39. The ASNE code did not
include any specific
mention balance or
objectivity in its
principles, but it did
construct a framework
under rubrics V and VI.

40. V. IMPARTIALITY: Sound
practice makes clear
distinction between
news reports and
expressions of opinion.
News reports should be
free from opinion or
bias of any kind.

41. VI. FAIR PLAY: A
newspaper should not
publish unofficial
charges affecting
reputation or moral
character without
opportunity given to
the accused to be
heard ;

42. … right practice
demands the giving of
such opportunity in all
cases of serious
accusation outside
judicial proceedings.

43. Even so, in 1942, Time
magazine publisher
Henry Luce formed a
commission headed by
University of Chicago
president Robert M.
Hutchins to study
freedom of the press.

44. The commission
released its report in
1947, finding that the
press had failed in its
responsibility to
properly inform
Americans of truthful
information on national
affairs.

45. A lack of diverse
opinions, concentration
of ownership and a lack
of ethical responsibility
threatened democracy.

46. “The right of free
public expression has
therefore lost its earlier
reality,” the report
concluded (1947).

47. Little changed but
news organizations did
continue to seek to
perfect their approach
by practicing objectivity
and balance, key but
unstated elements of
its obligations under
ethical codes.

48. But as it turned out,
the codes of ethics and
First Amendment
protections led to what
Lippman had feared.

49. Objectivity and balance
became integrated into
news accounts even if
one side or the other
spread false
information. The truth
would be elusive in
that environment.

50. And that made it
possible for
disinformation to flow,
and it never flowed
more freely than in the
21st century when the
internet emerged.

51. Lippman had turned
out to be right in
stating that the First
Amendment would be
abused and that news
organizations would
not work to change
that, at least initially.