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In this movie, the CBS News Studio was willing to stand up against Senator McCarthy. The senator was making false accusations about people being communist without any evidence. The government had sent a loyalty oath to CBS and forced them to sign it. This meant the news had to keep quiet about the issue and could not broadcast it to the general public. This was censorship. McCarthy was ‘‘imposing his personal or moral values on others’’. He felt that anyone who disagrees with him or criticize his methods is a communist. According to the First Amendment, Congress cannot make any laws to ‘‘abridge the freedom of the press’’. This directly implies how censorship is unconstitutional. The CBS News Studio has every right to speak against the wrongdoing of McCarthy without any restrictions from the government. The government has been trying to restrict journalists for a long time, the case of McCarthy occurred during the 1950s but if we trace back to 1735, we also see it occurring with John Peter Zenger. He was the publisher of a newspaper who published wrongdoing in the government and was thrown into jail. During the Obama Administrators more whistleblowers were prosecuted than any other administration. The government has always been in the business of trying to conceal certain information from the general public. 


A beginner's guide to online censorship - Comparitech


But how can the government truly be a democracy if the people have no say in what the government is doing? This tells us that most times the government is more interested in doing what is best for themselves and not the citizens. They are trying to put up a certain reputation for themselves and most times they have to hide information from the public. John McCarthy was trying to make himself seem better and above the citizens and whoever did not follow through with his beliefs was a target. Therefore, the government telling the CBS Studio to keep silent about what McCarthy was doing, was clearly unfair. The public rely on the press to watch after what the state or federal government is doing. They are the eyes and ears of the public and this system is supposed to place checks and balances in the government.


Political Journalism in a Populist Age | Shorenstein Center



In 1971, the Supreme Court defended the rights of the press when they made it clear that ‘‘The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers could publish contents of the Pentagon Papers without risk of government censorship’’. This shows how the press has every right to make share information with the public about the government without fear of being jailed or attacked. The press is protected by the First Amendment constitutional rights. Therefore, when Ed chooses to report the bad that McCarthy is doing, he is responsibly exercising his constitutional rights. We see that Palee, is against this idea because he is afraid that some reporters may lose their jobs. Palee is not interested in making controversial news but would rather just report the news. This tells us that when the government puts fear into the press, it can stop them from exercising their rights. If people stop exercising their rights then it means the government can take advantage of the people at any given moment. Ed’s decision to stand up and expose McCarthy’s comments on the live news station was a great example of the press exercising their rights. The newspapers acknowledged the news crew for their enlightened citizenship and display of courage to share news about senator McCarthy playing political games and spreading deception. This led the senate to investigate McCarthy.





BIBLIOBLOG: Gratitude

Therefore, in order for a society to run as a democracy it is imperative that you have a functional press. They must be able to communicate information efficiently and effectively to the public. They should be able to discern when the government is lying and placing fear into the public. CBS Studios quickly detected the games McCarthy was playing and was not hesitant to make the information go viral. Although a few were uncomfortable, majority of the reporters were willing to report the truth. Without the public knowing the truth, the government would be more so of a dictatorship and less of a democracy. The people need the press to act as the ears and eyes and to do the checking function. The checking function was a theory developed by Vincent Blasi in relation to the First Amendment. He emphasizes that the free press ‘‘check the abuse of power by public officials’’. This is exactly what the CBS news station was doing with McCarthy. They needed to put him in check or else he would take advantage of the citizens. We need the press to boldly tell the truth so that the citizens can act accordingly.






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