What do the Media do that SHOULD be illegal?

"Deliberately misleading the public," is immoral, but it shouldn't be illegal. The reason? It's not really enforceable. Exactly who or what is going to be the judge of whether or not someone deliberately mislead someone, or did it by accident?

"Calling it 'news' when it's really just opinion," is a difficult philosophical question, not a question for law enforcement to sort out. Every news organization makes decisions about what, for example, is newsworthy. But that's just an opinion. There's no real non-controversial standard about what should and what shouldn't be covered by a news network.

Further, once we've figured out what to cover, the line between "opinion" and "news" is neither obvious nor clear. Suppose it's the 17th century, and I broadcast the following news: "There will be an increase in temperature because of the expansion of phlogiston," or suppose I now say, "Mitt Romney will be appearing tonight during the Arizona CNN debate." Neither of those propositions are bereft of opinion. If Romney gets into a car accident on the way to CNN, he won't make it, and therefore the proposition about Romney attending the debate will have been demonstrated to be just my opinion, rather than a fact. Since phlogiston does not exist, the attempt to talk about the weather will have been based on a faulty theory, and theories are "just" opinions.

What would we do about the weather? Predictions are based on the best contemporary scientific theories, that may be revised in the future. What would we do about stock market news? Exactly why did the Dow Jones go up or down? Those explanations depend on economic theories, which, again, are opinions.

"Deliberately telling only one side of the story" is a doozy. There are not merely two or three or three hundred "sides" of a story, there are millions. For every "fact," we can explain or describe it in countless numbers of ways, many of them incompatible with one another.

They tried a fairness doctrine for the radio, and that was a disaster. Suggesting a fairness doctrine for television news sounds like just the same kind of disaster.

I want the government's paws off the media entirely. First amendment. Fox News spews a bunch of nonsense and some people get misled, well... that's the price of freedom. The price of trying to ensure a non-misled public through law enforcement would be much, much higher.

What ever the answer... it must be done at the State and local levels.

States should break down the barriers to entry that produce monopolistic media that then has an incentive to partner with gov't for further protection.

I'm tired of seeing the media play favorites and try to pick out candidates for us by ignoring ones they don't like.

I'm tired of seeing them go on and on for hours about candidates they like to the exclusion of those they don't wish to promote (Ron Paul).

I'm tired of them giving poll reports with the names of only some candidates, like: Romney came in first with Gingrich and Santuram competing for third place (behind who? Ron Paul)

Each mention of the candidates name brings free advertising and name recognition. Every day I still meet people who have never heard of Ron Paul.

It's not for the media to pick and choose winners, it's their job to report withough bias, and if they can't they should hang up their pencils and microphones and get another job.

The media establishment shouldn't be able to use the FCC to control the airwaves and limit it to only their propaganda.

Your suggestions are silly. who decides if someone is 'deliberately' doing something? The government? haven't we figured out that it doesn't work?

Freedom is the answer.

In a free market with free speech there are no restrictions that should be put on the media or any other private enterprise as long as they follow natural law / common law.

The problem is that the education system and the media have brainwashed people into thinking that we need government to protect us from all evil when government itself is the ultimate evil.

Wake people up to this fact and they will just turn off their TVs all by themselves.

"What does the media do" not "What do the media do"

Please fix that it looks awful. I'm trying to make Ron Paul supporters look as smart as they are. Let's be more professional please. Edits are FREE.

The down-vote is mine and I didn't even read the post.