newspapers and reputations
by
NickD
08/27/2007, 9:30 PM #
Shafer and Hoyt are a little bit off base in their assertations.
In this day and age of kidnappers and pedophiles, that fellow who was falsely accused of fondling someone is indeed being damaged by the paper for its not printing a correction on the accusation. Thats very serious stuff.
As more and more employers and potential clients turn to the internet for information regarding the people they hire it is very important that we seek out accuracy.
Imagine if you lost the love of your life because she googled your name and found accusations of child fondling, it doesnt take much these days to be written off in the business world either. Even an old DUI or pot smoking case from 25 or 30 years ago can ruin an otherwise stellar lifes work. Now if those accusations have been proven false the innocent person must once again work to clear his name and in the case of competition over a promotiion sometimes all it takes is a sliver of doubt to destroy a persons career. By the time the person has recleared their name the new position has been filled or the client has hired someone else.
Newspapers have an obligation to print the news and to print only things that are true. If an honest mistake is made then the newspaper has an obligation to correct that mistake. Now that old articles are appearing across the net from 20 years ago, long forgotton mistakes are coming back to injure people.
I disagree that a persons reputation is not his own. A reputation is based on perceptions and facts regarding the person who's reputation is in question. If a man has worked hard his entire life to live within a certain set of parameters in order to have a good reputation then he has every right to insist his reputation be protected from false information and allegations. The man who was falsely accused of fondling another person has a legitimate beef with that accusation being the first thing people see of his personal history, particularly since the paper refuses to print another story detailing the false allegation.
Even today if newspapers print stories with names of people accused of crimes in their headlines and then the accused are later cleared the newspapers owe that person and the public another story with equal headlines outlining the persons innocence.
Look at Richard Jewel and the living hell he experienced as the news media tried and convicted him. The news media hounded that poor man and his mother into hell. After the man was proven innocent he was given a little bit of press stating he was wrongly accused but the damage was done. Hell that guy should have been given the medal of honor for what he did in Atlanta, he saved a lot of lives that night. Instead America handed him a shit sandwich.
