Why Is The First Amendment Important In Journalism

The First Amendment allows for the freedom of the press, and presents a shield of protection for journalists. It also gives the public their rights to the truth, and the journalist’s freedom to seek and report the truth. However, corporate business interests can often conflict with the use of the First Amendment and affect a journalist’s ethical commitment to it. This is portrayed in All the President’s Men, Shattered Glass, and Absence of Malice.
The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution states:
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; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances. (First Amendment Center, 2014)
Thus, the fate of journalism is irrevocably tied to the protection of First Amendment rights.
In All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigated and reported a story that they believed the American people should have the right to know. Throughout their investigation Woodward and Bernstein are constantly challenged by Ben Bradlee, The Post’s executive editor. Due to the impact it could have on the reputation of The Post, Bradlee was initially hesitant to print Woodward and Bernstein’s articles. This shows how the business side of news reporting can affect the news itself and a journalist’s First Amendment right. “Nothing's riding on this except the first amendment of the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of this country”, Bradlee said to Woodward and Bernstein after they discovered the mass involvement in the Watergate scandal (Coblenz & Pakula, 1976). By exercising their rights to the First Amendment, their investigation uncovered involvement all the way up to President Richard Nixon, and even though the White House continued to deny any wrongdoing, The Post continued to print story after story. The Watergate scandal eventually helped take down Nixon, who resigned in August 1974. “Using their First Amendment freedom of the press, Woodward and Bernstein reported on Watergate without fear of censorship or punishment from the government. In addition, shield laws, which protect the anonymity of sources, helped keep the reporters' biggest source, Deep Throat, private (Tenhouse, J., 2012, para
2).
Shattered Glass dramatically depicts what is at stake within news organization and in the end shows the right choices being made. More broadly, the film speaks of ideals regarding truth and democracy that journalists must uphold.” Stephan Glass took advantage of The First Amendment with the fabrication of the truth. From a business standpoint, he realized what the newspaper businesses were looking for, and he wrote what he thought they wanted to hear. Unfortunately, what he wrote to please the news business ended up being fabricated stories and information. Taking advantage of the First Amendment, can prove to be appealing to journalists, although, the consequences are not worth destroying the truth that journalists seek to uphold. Glass sadly learns this lesson the hard way, and in the end loses his career and reputation. The business pressures that Glass felt, contributed to his decision to fabricate stories that would sell. “The editors were desperate for good stuff”, an anonymous New Republic staffer said shortly after Glass’s lies we uncovered (Good, 2008, p. 28). His editor Chuck Lane states that “He handed us fiction after fiction, and we printed them all as fac. Just because we found him entertaining” (Baumgarten, Christensen, Hirsch, Merims & Ray, 2004).
In Absence of Malice, Megan Carter is a journalist who is passionate about the public’s right to know, yet forgets to take in account the public’s right to good work by those who have been given this opportunity under the First Amendment (Good, 2008). “I keep thinking there must be some rules to tell me what I’m supposed to do now, but maybe not”, Carter states (Pollack, 1981). “She lusts after the big story, heedless of the power journalists wield to do harm and clearly ignorant of standards, both technical an ethical, spoken and unspoken, that many working journalists aspire to live up to’ (Good, 2008, p.50). Carter’s editor Mac, and corporate attorney Davidek, do not help her in realizing the consequences of her actions. Fortunately, by the end of the film, Carter does being to realize her mistakes, however, she has already victimized two innocent people and dishonored the paper (Good, 2008). Journalists are presumed to understand the checks and balances that they are expected to provide under the First Amendment, which is why the SPJ code of ethics and being able to distinguish between the technical and moral guidelines that professionals are expected to follow is vitally important. The editor tells Carter he does not know how to print truth without hurting people. Thus, Carter consequently takes advantage of the First Amendment when she betrayed the trust of Teresa Perrone, which sadly resulted in her suicide. Thus, Absence of Malice suggests that “journalism done badly can wound and kill, but when journalists and other take responsibility for their actions and make the right choices, institutional abuses can be prevented and stopped” (Ehrlich, 2008, p. 138).
In closing, the First Amendment is vital to the news world, however, journalists must learn how to also become ethically sound reporters as they express their freedom of press, and to understand the agendas that businesses tend to place on their reporters. Woodward and Bernstein were able to exercise their freedom of the press for the greater good of the American people. However, Glass and Carter took advantage of the First Amendment and betrayed the integrity that journalists must uphold. All three films also portrayed the business end of the news world, they “depict the press either standing up or caving in to government or big business with the public interest at stake” (Ehrlich, 2008, p. 176). The key characters of the films had to learn how to use the First Amendment to help and not harm others. Woodward and Bernstein had to remain driven to their cause to expose the truth, even though The Post was worried that their story would affect the popularity and integrity of their paper. Glass felt the pressure of the corporate world and thought he found a route to success, yet tarnished his name forever. Carter allowed her ambitions to write a breaking story and the lack of guidance from an editor who wanted to sell papers allow her to negatively affect innocent lives. Good (2008) states
The idea that truth is at the heart of journalism’s role in society dates back to classical libertarianism, the philosophy underpinning the First Amendment. Libertarianism assumed that freedom of speech and the press was key to self-righting marketplace ideas: let all with something to say be free to express themselves. The true and sound will survive; the false and the unsound will be vanquished. (p. 20)