TC 240: Letter to the Editor
The Truth About Lies
Charles Roman
Section 2
The creation and manipulation of objects and people by video and picture producers
has marched on mainly unscathed in a world of laws and regulations. Newspaper and
television editors have flown under the radar of regulations, as well as their other media
counterparts. Where does the line need to be drawn for the creators of media? The fact that
they can produce an image and present it worldwide puts responsibility on their shoulders to
portray truth. Their ethical decisions affect what is seen everyday and no one knows how
ethical these people are. Truth and reality are important topics of debate that should be
addressed.
When considering truth, you may wonder what positive sides can be presented. For
one, the truth does not always bring the biggest price tag and most producers know what will.
They strive to obtain the perfect moneymaker and want to keep it a certain way. As in the
movie “Quiz Show” the producer of Twenty-One, Dan Enright, gives Charles Van Dorren the
questions that will appear on the show before it has been aired. The announcer lies outright
during the show, saying no one has seen the questions because they’ve been sealed in a bank
vault beforehand. It may also be argued that lying to the American public is more pleasing to
them as long as they never know. This may be true but I would rather know the truth then be
force-fed a lie.
The American public relies on media for their information into the happenings in the
everyday world. It would be impossible for a person to collect all the information that is
shown in one news show. The truth in that respect is a very important prospect. We don’t
want to be to be told lies when we don’t know better. Finding media that is trustworthy is a
chore because they are all competing for popularity. Such as television stations today
competing to air the most shocking images of the war in Iraq to gain viewers. Unreliable
media leads America to lose trust in everything that is shown on TV. If there were some laws
for truthful media then we would feel better watching and believe it.
Personally, I believe there should be some type of regulation to promote truthful
media. When I sit down to watch or read media productions, game shows, newspapers, etc., it
is hard to tell whether I’m being told the truth because our trust has been broken before. To
gain trust back in our media, we must be able to trust them to tell the truth. If they are going
to publish a false story or a story that is not yet proven true they should have to tell the public.
The idea that the media must protect their sources gives them the ability to publish stories
from sources nobody knows. There should be laws about the number of sources needed to
publish a story instead of basing it on the ethics of the reporter. Ethics cannot be completely
regulated but there should be some rules and guidelines that must be enforced.
There should always be guidelines and rules as the basis of all publicly shown media
products. Letting personal ethics guide the media gives a multiple amount of different views.
While some media personnel may have tight ethics, others have loose ethics where they’ll
print or air whatever will get them a name. It is hard to regulate someone’s personal thoughts,
but there is a need to try. To restore trust in the media is important, not only for their
continuing success, but to allow the public to believe what they are saying. Freedom of
speech has been an important value throughout the United States history, but people are
taking this freedom to far. Who would make these ethic rules is also a good question. Should
it be the government or should there be some other body that creates the rules for which all
media ought to be governed by? Action needs to be taken.