A panel of media professionals discussed the implications of modern-day censorship at the annual University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics conference Friday.
“Journalism is a public good,” said Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy and communications at The Free Press. “The government needs to step in to figure out how it can help support that.”
Karr outlined three frameworks he currently sees at work. He said media owners have a responsibility to manage their companies in ways that maximize financial returns for investors, journalists are responsible for speaking the truth and informing communities to help them meaningfully engage with democracy and the government is responsible for stepping in when the marketplace fails to support the public good of journalism.
Sewell Chan, former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, agreed, adding it’s also news consumers’ responsibility to remain vigilant about what they’re reading, especially in a time of journalism censorship.
Referencing George Orwell’s “1984”, Chan said a more sophisticated version of censorship is emerging in the U.S. in what he called an “information age of fragmentation.” Censorship, he said, involves things like distraction and deception.
Karr referenced the First Amendment, noting that despite these protections, “the owners of media” choose not to exercise their free speech.
Referencing recent lawsuits from the Trump Administration, Karr said many media companies are choosing to settle with the administration, because fighting or speaking out isn’t worth the trouble, adding that media companies decide to self-censor out of fear of the potential backlash.
Karr and Chan commended “journalism defenders” — advocates for news’ companies right to free speech, regardless of the message — especially in a time where “media companies aren’t willing to stand up for their own rights.”
Journalists must continue to strive for excellence, Chan said, and not give anyone “room or space to attack us.”
“It's a highly divided society, but I think that we respond as journalists by relying on the best exemplars of our profession and talking about things we can all agree on,” Chan said. “We want legislative dollars to be spent effectively… on health and education. We want major institutions like corporations, universities and the government to be all accountable. We want to tell stories that reflect our communities and all the richness and diversity — and contradiction.”
