What is the role of a free press in America?

Answer 1

A free press is the only press with real responsibilities to anyone outside of the state, "free" meaning not controlled by the government and able to report without censorship. The free press is responsible for researching and reporting to the public on trends, crime, foreign events, and any notable occurrences within its own government. The duties of the press are fairly hard to define because they are not officially laid down anywhere.

Watching the Government

• A free press should be able to interview government officials, access some or most government documents, and generally be a critical and objective observer of the government's activities. In the United States, the press has long been thought of as an extra check on government power because of its ability to investigate and report on exactly what the government is doing. This does not necessarily mean trying to catch the government doing something wrong or incriminate officials, but it means not sugarcoating or ignoring questionable activities either.

Reporting Events

• Most of the press's time is spent reporting on local, national and international events, such as crime, political and diplomatic occurrences (such as elections, the passing of treaties and meetings of politicians), holiday events and catastrophic weather. This is important because it is the main way people become aware of what is going on in the world outside of their immediate areas.

Investigative Reporting

• Journalists and the press sometimes find information of a scandal or occurrence that for some reason has not been fully revealed to the public or may be completely unknown. On these occasions, the press has a responsibility to investigate the story and, if it impacts the public at large, to publish it.

Using Discretion

• In the same way that the press is expected to spread information that significantly impacts the public, it can also be argued that it has a responsibility to withhold information that would be especially damaging to a person family, or organization if that information is not important enough. "Important enough" means that not sharing the information would have a very detrimental effect on someone or a group. There are a lot of complex ethical questions faced by the press concerning decisions about whether to share information.

by

Saira Kazmi

Answer 2

The role of the press in America is to act as watchdogs, allow free flow ideas, and help people make informed decision.

Answer 3

To allow free flow of ideas, and help people make informed decisions. They cannot spread false rumors, or publish information that could help enemies in wartime.