Equal Time

In interviews designed to complement lesson goals, a journalist, political scientist, historian, and former government ofcial share their perspectives on such matters as:

the First Amendments protection of a free press the medias rights, roles, and responsibilities in a democracy the various contributions of print, television, and internet media

USING EQUAL TIME

ach lesson in Media and American Democracy references questions in Equal Time. Designed to stand alone or to be used as handouts to complement lessons, this section provides students with four perspectives on historical and contemporary media issues. Equal Time features four participants: a journalist, Barbara Cochran; a constitutional scholar, Linda Monk; a political scientist, Rodney Smolla; and a former government ofcial, Hodding Carter. All share their perspectives on issues from the foundations of the First Amendment to the recent development of web logs, or blogs. The interview questions are:

1. What is the most important way the First Amendment protects a free press? 2. Historically, what has been the role of a free press in a free society? Has that role changed? If so, how? 3. How have the media been successful in empowering citizens to participate in democracy? 4. In what ways have the media failed in empowering citizens to participate in democracy? 5. Have the media been good watchdogs of government?

6. What can the media do to increase citizens condence in their reporting? 7. Are journalists who withhold information from ofcials preserving freedom of the press, or are they obstructing justice? 8. How do newspapers, magazines, Internet media, and television news differ? 9. What is the impact of 24-hour news channels on the quality and delivery of news to the public? 10. What is the impact of Internet blogs on the mainstream media? Are bloggers forcing the mainstream media to change? If so, how?

You may choose to have students read handouts as homework before beginning a lesson, as a wrap-up homework assignment, or as the centerpiece for a class discussion independent of any Media and American Democracy lesson. Additional suggestions:

Have students read all ten Equal Time responses and identify similarities and differences among the four participants answers. Have students choose a question where the respondents disagreed, and work in groups or two or four to write a ctional debate representing the various viewpoints.

Ask students to choose several of the questions and write their own original responses. Ask students to suggest additional questions they would like to have answered, and then conduct individual interviews. Conduct a large group discussion on the ways one or more of the questions pertain to a current events issue.

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EQUAL TIME |

Contributors

Hodding Carter, President and CEO John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Hodding Carter became president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation on February 1, 1998. For the preceding three years he was the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland, following 10 years as president of MainStreet TV. From 1980 to 1995, Mr. Carter served as anchor, correspondent, panelist, or producer of a number of public affairs series, documentaries, and talk shows, winning four Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Award. During the same period he was an op-ed columnist for The Wall Street Journal and later was a syndicated columnist with the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Mr. Carter served as reporter, managing editor, and editor during the previous seventeen years with his familys daily newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times of Greenville, Mississippi. He served as White House Press Secretary and State Department spokesman under President Carter from 1977 to 1980. A graduate of Princeton University, he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 1965-66. He served on the Princeton board of trustees from 1983-1998 and has been a trustee of the Century Foundation since 1969. The author of two books and contributor to nine others, he has written for numerous newspapers and magazines over the past 45 years.

Barbara Cochran, President Radio-Television News Directors Association and Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDA/F)
Barbara Cochran has been president of RTNDA/F since 1997. A leading advocate for First Amendment rights, she has been at the forefront of the major issues facing electronic journalists, including ghting for cameras and microphones in the courtroom and getting local reporters embedded with American troops during the war in Iraq. Ms. Cochran has held such positions as vice president and Washington bureau chief for CBS News, executive producer for NBCs Meet the Press, and vice president of news for National Public Radio. Ms. Cochran was awarded the Media Institutes Freedom of Speech Award and the American Women in Radio and Television Award for Allied Services. Ms. Cochran is a founding board member of the International Womens Media Foundation and serves on the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute, the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland College of Journalism, the Advisory Committee of the Newseum, and the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is a juror for the DuPontColumbia Awards and the Peabody Awards. Ms. Cochran has a Masters degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelors degree from Swarthmore College.

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The Bill of Rights Institute

EQUAL TIME |

Contributors

Linda R. Monk, Constitutional Scholar

Linda R. Monk is a constitutional scholar, journalist, and nationally award-winning author. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she twice received the American Bar Associations Silver Gavel Award, its highest honor for law-related media. Her books include The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution and The Bill of Rights: A Users Guide. For more than eighteen years, Ms. Monk has written commentary for newspapers nationwideincluding the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post. She served as a consultant to the Newseum, a Visiting Scholar at the National Constitution Center, and the Lead Curator for the McCormick Freedom Museum. Ms. Monk also has conducted more than fty teachertraining seminars for such groups as National History Day, George Washingtons Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the National Archives, and the National Council for the Social Studies.

Rodney A. Smolla, Dean and George Allen Professor of Law University of Richmond
Rodney Smolla is dean of the Law School at University of Richmond, where he is also George Allen Professor of Law. Before joining the faculty at the University of Richmond, he served as the Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary School of Law. He also served as Director of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William and Mary. In 2002, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia presented Professor Smolla with its Outstanding Faculty Award for superior accomplishment in teaching, research, and public service. A prolic scholar, Professor Smolla has written eleven books and more than forty law review articles, law school casebooks, and other publications. His book Free Speech in an Open Society won the William O. Douglas Award in 1992 as the years best monograph on freedom of expression. Professor Smolla earned his J.D., rst in his class, Order of the Coif, at Duke University School of Law, and also received the American Jurisprudence Awards in Torts and Constitutional Law. He received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Yale University. Professor Smolla is a member of The Bill of Rights Institute Academic Advisory Council.

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QUESTION 1

Hodding Carter
It guarantees absolutely the right of a free press in this democratic society when it says Congress shall make no law abridging that freedom. What has happened over the last 200 years or more is that this has come to mean that government cannot ordinarily prevent the people from getting a free ow of information from the press. In this society, a citizen is only as strong as his knowledge about the workings of the government.

Barbara Cochran
The press is the only business that is specically protected in our Constitution. The First Amendment does not give journalists unquestioned license to go anywhere, pry into anything, or say anything. The most important freedom that the First Amendment grants to the press is freedom from government control. The press is not owned by the government, licensed by the government, or controlled by the government. The First Amendment establishes the press as independent of government control. WHAT IS

Linda Monk

THE MOST IMPORTANT WAY THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTS A FREE PRESS?

Rod Smolla

The First Amendment limits the power of the government, and that helps both the people and the press. It protects freedom of expression for all citizens, including the press. Freedom of the press benets the people, not just reporters, by securing the free ow of information that is necessary to democracy.

The First Amendment protects a free press by preventing the government from punishing the press merely because the press is critical of government policy or the conduct of government ofcials.

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QUESTION 2

Hodding Carter
It is our very good fortune that, over the centuries of Americas existence, our freedoms have steadily expanded. The press itself is a much better institution than at the time the Founders created the Bill of Rights. We share a strong sense that the press should be independent of political faction and party and government, but should speak as best it can on behalf of the larger public interest.

Barbara Cochran
A free press has ensured that the public receives independently reported information about how their government functions. That assures accountability of the government to those it seeks to govern. The press has changed in many ways over two and a quarter centuries. But new technologies, new delivery systems, new ownership patterns, and new editorial stances have not changed the fundamental importance of a free press to a free people.

Linda Monk

HISTORICALLY, WHAT HAS BEEN THE ROLE OF A FREE PRESS IN A FREE SOCIETY? HAS THAT ROLE CHANGED? IF SO, HOW?

Rod Smolla

A truly free press will always be a thorn in the side of government power. The media have access to government ofcials that ordinary citizens dont, and with that access comes the responsibility to ask hard questions. In the early days of America, newspapers were connected with political parties and were clearly partisan. That era seems to be returning today because many cable channels and web sites promote political viewpoints.

Historically the role of the press in a free society is to keep citizens informed, so that they may understand the events and debates that comprise our social and political life. The role of the press in reporting on news is changing in many ways. One change is a movement toward treating news more as a form of entertainment.

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QUESTION 3

Hodding Carter
The media succeed in empowering citizens to participate in a democracy when they do their job by putting facts and gures and contrasting opinion before the people in a way that allows them to understand what is happening in their society and to act on that knowledge. The best measure of our free presss success is the continued existence of our democratic society.

Barbara Cochran
Changes in the news media have progressively given citizens more information in a more direct way to inform their participation. Television allows citizens to see and hear election candidates and governmental forums at length without having to be present in person. Debates and interviews, hearings, and news conferences are televised now and citizens can participate more freely than ever. The Internet has opened up a vast new electronic means for citizens to seek information and HOW HAVE THE add their voices to the political dialogue. MEDIA BEEN

Linda Monk

SUCCESSFUL IN EMPOWERING CITIZENS TO PARTICIPATE IN DEMOCRACY?

Rod Smolla

Information is power, so in that sense the media are empowering citizens. With the rise of the Internet, it is easier to get access to multiple sources of high-quality information than ever before. The Internet also makes it easier to contact elected ofcials, register to vote, and take other forms of civic action.

When the press provides a role for citizens to speak, such as through call-in programs, letters to the editor, or Internet sites, citizens are empowered to participate in democracy.

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QUESTION 4

Hodding Carter
To the extent that the media have come to believe their role is to entertain more than inform, and to appeal to the lowest common denominator rather than to try to improve the public debate, the media have failed and fail. The greatest temptation for the media is to distrust their audience, the American people. When they do that, they feed the public junk food instead of the substantial fare that is required to keep a democratic republic alive.

Barbara Cochran
The biggest challenge for the media now is to keep the ood of information from overwhelming citizens and causing them to become confused, frustrated, and alienated.

Linda Monk

IN WHAT WAYS HAVE THE MEDIA FAILED IN EMPOWERING CITIZENS TO PARTICIPATE IN DEMOCRACY?

Rod Smolla

Once upon a time, viewing the nightly news was all a citizen had to do to be well informed. But with the explosion of media outlets has come a ood of information, which can be hard to navigate. Citizens may feel paralyzed in the face of so much data. The media should show people how to take action about an issue, in addition to informing them.

At times the media are arrogant, talking down to people instead of listening to them and engaging them. This discourages democratic participation and lowers the quality of our debate and discourse.

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QUESTION 5

Hodding Carter
American history is full of examples of the great job that the American press has performed in playing the watchdogs. Our recent history is replete with such examples from the story of the Watergate scandals to the unraveling of at least two recent presidents inability to separate truth from lies. But the medias role as watchdogs is not just about the big story that seems to turn history upside down. The real measure of ensuring success is the day in, day out, careful attention to and coverage of all the activities of government, including so many that are not on center stage.

Barbara Cochran
Absolutely. Think about Watergate, the Iran-contra investigation, the questions being raised about intelligence failures in the war on terrorism. Or think about local investigations that lead to changes at City Hall or in the local police department. The news media continue to keep a close eye on government at all levels.

Linda Monk

HAVE THE MEDIA BEEN GOOD WATCHDOGS OF GOVERNMENT?

Rod Smolla

The job of a good watchdog is to bark; its not the dogs fault if the owner doesnt wake up. Sometimes the media have barked louder than others; sometimes the people are more willing to listen. The medias investigation of the Watergate scandal marked the high point of their role as watchdogs; the lack of investigation about Iraqs alleged weapons of mass destruction marked the medias low point.

Modern journalists tend to be very aggressive and very effective watchdogs of government. While the media are of course not perfect, and do not always fetter out the truth or pursue important stories as quickly as they should, on balance they are extremely active in pursuing stories about government, and does a very good job of performing its watchdog function.

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QUESTION 6

Hodding Carter
The most important single thing that media can do is to place fact and accuracy above all else. The point of our exercise is that nobody has a monopoly on truth, and no one point of view is automatically believed to be or should be accepted as revealed truth. The media must, at all times, treasure accuracy; fairness partnered with accuracy; and a resistance to the temptation to let personal opinion, or bias shape the story.

Barbara Cochran
The news media need to work hard to establish credibility with the public. This means investigating promptly when a possible error is called to their attention, admitting when mistakes have been made, and explaining clearly what happened and what corrective steps are being taken. News organizations need to be clear about their practices. They also need to review procedures and adapt as new situations arise. Finally, news organizations need to be more transparent to the public about difcult WHAT CAN decisions.

Linda Monk

THE MEDIA DO TO INCREASE CITIZENS CONFIDENCE IN THEIR REPORTING?

Rod Smolla

Report the facts, not conclusions about the facts. On the other hand, never let a government ofcial get away with stretching the truth. As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.

Condence in the media would rise if there was less sensationalism, less invasion of privacy, less reporting on rumor and gossip and unveried information, less emphasis on speed and getting the scoop on the competition, and more emphasis on accuracy and fairness.

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QUESTION 7

Hodding Carter

Barbara Cochran

This is the hardest single issue that faces any First, journalists must use condential sources journalist who understands his or her dual role sparingly and satisfy themselves that information as benefactor of the First Amendment and cant be obtained in any other way. Once therefore of tremendous freedom; and, his that has been established, the reporter is or her role as a citizen with the obligations of obliged to keep the commitment to the citizenship. In the ordinary course of events, the source. If threatened with reprisals for not journalists rst responsibility is to the public and naming the source, the journalist must still keep not to the government. The government is, in the condence. Sources who have valuable our system, supposed to be the instrument of information, but who fear for their livelihood the people and not its master. Being able to or their safety if they are identied, serve the protect sources of information from government public by bringing to their attention important retaliation is indispensable to the gathering news. If these sources feel the reporters they of the news about government misbehavior conde in can be forced to identify them, or worse. But this cannot be offered as an they will stop relaying their information and the absolute. There are extremely public will be the loser. The limited circumstances, which federal shield law introduced can only be decided on a recently in Congress would ARE JOURNALISTS case by case basis, in which protect journalists much more a journalist has an obligation WHO WITHHOLD than they are now protected to provide vital information. INFORMATION under current court rulings.

Linda Monk

When a journalist withholds information from a government ofcial she is covering, thats good reporting. But when she withholds information about a crime from a prosecutor, thats obstruction of justice. The Supreme Court has ruled that journalists do not have a First Amendment right to withhold their sources in a criminal investigation. However, many states have passed shield laws that protect reporters from revealing their sources.

FROM OFFICIALS PRESERVING FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, OR ARE THEY OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE?

Rod Smolla

The answer depends on the circumstances. There may be times in which it is appropriate for a journalist to refuse to divulge information, to protect condential sources. But this freedom to protect sources should not be understood as an absolute right. There are times in which that freedom should yield to other interests of our society, such as prosecution of crime or saving of lives. When investigators have no other way to obtain information that is in the hands of a journalist, and the social interest in obtaining the information is high, journalists should be compelled to divulge their information, and when they refuse, they are acting outside of the protections of the First Amendment.

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QUESTION 8

Hodding Carter
The easiest answer is the speed with which they are able to put the news before the public. With that increased speed comes a certain loosening of editorial control, which means spending enough time to make sure that every fact and assertion in the story is accurate. It is pointless to wait for a morning paper to tell you that a horrendous event has occurred the day before, but its equally pointless to expect that the reporting at the moment of the event will have as much information, depth, and context as the next days story. Both are useful, and both are, since we have the HOW technology, inevitable.

Barbara Cochran
Electronic media are more immediate and can be more interactive. As technology evolves, print media are adopting electronic means of distribution and electronic media are forming partnerships with print organizations, which have larger staffs and deeper resources.

Linda Monk

DO NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, INTERNET MEDIA, AND TELEVISION NEWS DIFFER?

Rod Smolla

They differ both in their content and in their level of protection by the First Amendment. Newspapers are the most verbal in their storytelling; television is the most visual. Magazines and the Internet tend to be a combination of both. Newspapers, magazines, and the Internet have a high degree of First Amendment protection. Because television uses the public airwaves, the government has more of a regulatory interest and can exercise more control over its content.

I am wary about drawing generalizations here. There are excellent journalists in all of these media. There are also sloppy and reckless journalists in all of these media. Its not the medium that matters, it is the quality.

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QUESTION 9

Hodding Carter

Barbara Cochran

Twenty-four hour news has countless All news is now on a 24-hour cycle. The benets to the general public. We live in speed with which news is disseminated a 24-hour society now. We have people means news organizations have had working and otherwise functioning fully at to adjust and strengthen their editing all hours of the day and night. Since we process, so that mistakes in fact and are able to deliver the news at all hours, emphasis dont become public. It also it would be unfair and, in fact, would means that news organizations must be counter to the whole point of news think about using different platforms in our society to suggest that it ought to disseminate the product of their to be conned to a conventional work reporting efforts. And while more news day. The problem with 24-hour news is organizations may be putting news that the constant barrage of fact, almost and information all high impact fact, can into packages, often frighten and confuse there still needs to the public and distort an be an emphasis on WHAT IS THE understanding of what the the original act of news really means. IMPACT OF 24gathering the news.

Linda Monk

HOUR NEWS CHANNELS ON THE QUALITY AND DELIVERY OF NEWS TO THE PUBLIC?

Rod Smolla

When news deadlines were daily, there was more time to check facts before they were published or went on the air. Now that the news is on 24-7, the pressure to break a story rst is even more intense. Plus, with so much time to ll, news channels can dull the viewers sensitivity to the most important stories by replaying them over and over.

There are positives and negatives. Roundthe-clock television news channels are fantastic vehicles for coverage of breaking news, and offer many creative and constructive formats for debate and in-depth exploration of issues. They can also get into bad habits, like everyone else, such as feeding frenzies in which stories get overblown and obsessive.

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QUESTION 10

Hodding Carter

Barbara Cochran

This is very early in the evolution of blogging, so The blogger phenomenon is still very the long-term assessment of impact will have to new. News organizations are under be left to smarter people than me. Theres an more scrutiny, and that may not be old Latin saying, roughly translated as Who will all bad if it helps make reporting and watch the watchdog? No power should be free of its critics and of those who suggest an presentation of news more accurate. alternate answer, storyline, or even interpretation But blogging is also a very derivative of the facts. Blogs provide that or can, and have effort. Reporters should not be shut off proved in some instances, to be very useful in from their communities or the events surfacing mistakes of major and minor variety in they cover. They need to get out, the mainstream media. The problem with blogs at this point is simply that they exist in a valueto see, to listen and to experience free, unedited, and unmediated atmosphere of what theyre reporting on. If journalists their own. Theres no real watchdog watching lose that, their work them and calling them into will become sterile question, except when they and meaningless to mention themselves. As those they criticize have no the public they are WHAT IS THE monopoly on truth, neither do supposed to serve. IMPACT OF the bloggers. INTERNET BLOGS ON

Linda Monk

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA? ARE BLOGGERS FORCING THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TO CHANGE? IF SO, HOW?

Rod Smolla

With Internet blogs, every citizen can be his own news editor. Like pamphleteers in revolutionary America, bloggers distribute their opinions on issues of the day. These citizen journalists can drive reporting by mainstream media and correct factual errors. But they can also spread false information, because they do not follow the same standards as professional journalists. Neither do some in the mainstream media, say bloggers.

I think blogging is a work in progress. This is a truly revolutionary, grassroots development in our culture, and will undoubtedly have an impact on mainstream media. But it is too early to tell what that impact will be. One thing is certain, bloggers are altering the traditional relationships and dynamics, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. In the words of the proverb, we live in interesting times.

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