Anyway, from a freedom of speech point of view it seems obvious that lying should be perfectly legal in a media context. Lying should only be illegal in a contractual context, and people should learn to distinguish the two. Of course, if that view is adopted, libel or any other "damages" against news organizatios should be thrown out too. There is the hypocricy at present.
As for whether that would make for good government, I don't know. The problem with the major news media is that they seem plausible for most of the time, and so people believe them. This is partly due to them saying a lot of true things, and partly because dissenting voices are silenced. I think that full freedom of speech (lying and all) would result in people being better informed on average, but I may be optimistic.
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timeasmymeasure
Well, it's either free or it isn't
Date: 2003-03-08 03:55 am (UTC)Anyway, from a freedom of speech point of view it seems obvious that lying should be perfectly legal in a media context. Lying should only be illegal in a contractual context, and people should learn to distinguish the two. Of course, if that view is adopted, libel or any other "damages" against news organizatios should be thrown out too. There is the hypocricy at present.
As for whether that would make for good government, I don't know. The problem with the major news media is that they seem plausible for most of the time, and so people believe them. This is partly due to them saying a lot of true things, and partly because dissenting voices are silenced. I think that full freedom of speech (lying and all) would result in people being better informed on average, but I may be optimistic.
Pavlos