1) Duty to ourselves

2) duty to clients/subscribers/supporters

3) duty to our organization

4) duty to professional colleagues

5) duty to society

established a code of ethics:

-seek truth and report it

-minimize harm

-act independently

-be accountable

freedom of:

religion,press,speech

right to:

peaceably assemble, petition the govt

FCC adopted it in 1949, abolished in 1987

-required broadcasters to provide balanced coverage of controversial issues and a reasonable opportunity for the presentation of contrasting views

adopted by FCC in 1967, rescinded in 2000

-when an attack on the honesty, character, or integrity of an individual occured over the airwaves during broadcast about an issue of public importance, the broadcaster had to notify the attacked party and offer a reasonable opportunity to respond

still active!

-broadcasters must offer all candidates for a particular elected office equal air time

1) false statement

2) identification of a victim

3) publication

4) level of fault

5) damages

1) truth

2) privilege (attorney/client, doctor/patient)

3) fair comment and criticism

Herbert sued Lando (producer of 60 minutes) for editing the segment in a way that damaged his character

--> S.C. ruledd that journalists may not block questions about the editorial process in libel cases

using someone else's name, image, likeness, or voice for commercial purposes without consulting them--common with public figures and celebrities

ex: bette midler/ford, guy on folger's container

intruding on a person's solitude or private affairs

i.e. trespassing, eavesdropping, using a hidden camera or recorder

placing someone in a false light in the public eye---libel claim

i.e. photo of a man walking on a street in a shady area suggests that the man himself is shady

Securities & Exchange Commision

(SEC)

companies that sell securities are required to make timely disclosures to the public

-investors need time to make important investment decisions

someone who has access to information that is not publicly available acts on that information to sell stock, often for great profit

**Martha Stewart

"my fault"-best way to deal with a crisis

-take responsibility for actions and tell the truth

flag burning

nazi parade through Kokie, IL

religious protests at military funerals

obscenity/pornography

libel-permanent, printed, broadcast

slander- temporary, spoken, heard by others

simple negligence-applied to private citizens

gross negligence/actual malice-applied to public citizens

alabama commisioner L.B. Sullivan sued the NY times about a civil rights ad that he claimed "libeled" him

-won $500,000 in Alabama courts

a false statement about another which accuses of a crime, immoral act, inability to perform job, having a disease or dishonesty in business---such claims are considered so harmful that malice need not be proved

i.e. woman=whore, doctor=quack

two politicians running for office sued a publication for listing them in a web posting titled "Top 10 dumb asses"

-court said there was no provable factual opposition so therefore no libel suit

libel in which the harm to reputation is unclear

i.e. Angie Dickinson/Arthur Fellows

-national enquirer claimed they were together, but he was married

ABC TV producers lied on job applications to do an expose on food handling at Food Lion

-on appeal, food lion lost on fraud but won with regard to breach of loyalty by reporter-employees

--final settlement awarded to FL: $2

walmartsucks.org

ihatedell.net

all entitled to our opinions, cannot be sued for expressing them

1981 libel suit against the National Enquirer for accusing her of public drunkenness

-won $1.6 million

made by Leni Riefenstahl

-Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels

coined by Orwell in 1984

-war is peace

-freedom is slavery

-ignorance is strength

7 people died from cyanide poisioning

-johnson & johnson spent $100mil to recall and replace the product

--J&J behaved so well in crisis that in a year, tylenol sales increased