# At what point does the power to speak to the masses demand the responsibility of not lying? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 18, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533 "2013-10-18T00:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/61 "2013-10-18T20:02:52Z")
At what point is it required that the masses be born with brains? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/62 "2013-10-18T20:26:11Z")
I still think my mandated ombudsman idea will work. The solution to bad speech is more speech. I do not think an ombudsman will be a problem for all media outlets, but for some they will burn like the fires of hell, and deservedly so. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/63 "2013-10-19T01:22:49Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Yes. I think we should have a national news organization called “Truth” that we can all trust. Da! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/64 "2013-10-19T01:36:44Z")
The Canadians have such a law, but they can probably make it work because they’re, well, Canadians. We’re not Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/65 "2013-10-20T02:13:48Z")
If we can tolerate the Ku Klux Klan having rallies in national parks, then we can tolerate Fox news lying about stuff as long as every other news organization doesn’t prop it up as “one side of the story” The “press” is supposed to police itself. When Fox news lies, it is the obligation of the rest of the press to jump on that. Editorial content that is identified as editorial content is just editorial content; but when Fox NEWS lies it is unethical. There was a time when the integrity of the news teams of a network was guarded like the virginity of the priestesses of Athena. Now the news is ratings driven and it has been bad for journalism. ---
**Author:** ![cornopean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cornopean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornopean)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/66 "2013-10-20T02:16:01Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I feel that protecting freedom of speech has gone too far in the event of mass media. I feel that there are controls necessary to ensure at least a bare minimum of honesty from figures and networks on the air. While individual speech is effectively sacrosanct, I feel a real argument needs to be made here - when your speech reaches and is respected by a large portion of the populace, should the responsibility of being truthful (and thus being not harmful to society) be legally enshrined? In other words, can or should there be any checks to things like [this](http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/16/obamas-victory-on-debt-ceiling-comes-at-terrible-price/): We expect the left to be increasingly against free speech. Liberalism just doesn’t mean “liberal” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/67 "2013-10-20T03:54:35Z")
The best answer I’ve ever been able to settle on about this issue is to force editorial shows to run a crawler reading something to the effect of: “The content of this editorial program reflects the opinions of the presenters, producers, and affiliated companies. It should not be viewed as impartial, or well-researched, or factual. Viewers are encouraged to get their information from a variety of sources.” I’d advocate that being run on most 24hr “news” programs, along with shows like The View, Oprah, or other talk-time, topical type shows. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533/68 "2013-10-20T10:44:54Z")
> [@cornopean](#): > > We expect the left to be increasingly against free speech. Liberalism just doesn’t mean “liberal” anymore. “Increasingly?” Is it your contention that the left is already against free speech to any meaningful degree? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-the-power-to-speak-to-the-masses-demand-the-responsibility-of-not-lying/671533.md?page=3)