by Bryce Van Buren

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 25, 2008

Media and Its Right To Maintain the Freedom of Speech

I believe that in all fairness and with accordance to the Bill of Rights, that the media should have the freedom of speech. Although the media tends to quite frequently distort and play up the worst parts of the news, it's how they receive more ratings. Sure, we would all like to pick up a newspaper or turn on the television to a small step towards a slightly rebounding dollar, or a small step towards peace in the Middle East, but sometimes undesirable news can be the best kind. Take, the upcoming election for president. As we see an impending recession heading our way, both presidential candidates (McCain and Obama) have come up with their own solution. As it is up to the voters to determine the winner, it is imperative that Americans be well educated by the media about current events and issues (desirable or not) so as to make the right choice in candidate.

When we receive bad news, the natural instinct is to do something to fix it or to make it better. Playing up stories such as natural disasters or starving and diseased children helps to encourage us to do more to help. One big example of this (some may disagree) is the issue of global warming. It's NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. It has been played up by media across the globe. A good effect of this is that people have begun to put more effort into cleaning up the environment before it does become a problem. As you can see, the media having the freedom of speech may not be such a bad thing.

I would generally describe the media as liberal, but I would also consider it a necessity for almost any citizen to have complete and total access to. The beauty of it all, is that you have many different forms and types of media to choose from based upon your personal preferences. If you don't like what one web site's views or ideas on something are you can find one that does. With so many media sources giving their opinions on everything you're bound to find something according to your likes. If you take away the media's freedom of speech, you in effect limit the information vital to people's everyday life.

Everyday citizens have freedom of speech, and just like the media they too abuse the right, and use it for both helping and hurting. If that right was taken away from the media it would be a violation of the freedom that America represents and stands for. The media should be able to have and use their freedom of speech for both encouraging or depressing news, but it's just part of their right as equally American citizens.

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