chapter 16 questioning the media

4. Who is Judith Miller? Shuold the United States have a federal shield law to protect reporters?

Judith Miller was a New York Times reporter who spent eighty five days in jail for refusing to testify about her confidential sources in connection with the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Miller got in trouble because of her prewar intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons. I personally think that the United States should not have a federal shield law to protect reporters because reporters should know what they are getting themselves into before actually proceeding with it. They signed up for it and so if they want to get into everyones else's business, then they can pay the price. It's just like the reporters getting into the lives of celebrities where they should'nt belong and end up putting false information out there to the public.

5. What do you think of the current movie rating system? Should it be changed? Why or why not?
I think that the current movie rating system is just fine the way it is. More and more kids are being exposed to sexual acts on television each day even through cartoons. So no matter what rating a show is, more then likely it will have some kind of sexual reference even if the kids dont pick up on it. Sure parents can edit their TV's to where it blocks shows of a certain rating, but there is still cursing in just about all the types of TV ratings. There may be sexual acts on TV nowadays, but I remember when I was a kid that I would see nudity on TV every once in awhile on a common network, so therefore TV has gotten alot better in terms of the things it shows.

6. Should the Fairness Doctrine be revived? Why or why not?

I think that the Fairness Doctrine should be revived because it required broadcast stations to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable and balanced. The purpose of it was to provide adequate coverage to pubilc issues with that coverage being fair in reflecting opposing opinions. Today it seems like differing opinions are not fairly represented on air. One side of an issue is made out to be the bad guys in one advertisment, while it being the other way around in another advertisment. This way you dont know who to believe. The Fairness Doctrine should be put back into place.