After an interesting presentation in class today, yet again I feel compelled to answer the question that seems to remain unanswered....Should Australians follow American Defamation laws or keep to our own. Do we embrace and value an individual's reputation over free speech, or is it the other way around???
I was surprised at the lack of opinion regarding this issue, particularly due to the fact we are all budding journalists about to step foot into the media industry and face such moral minefields..
I know for sure I am content with the Australian Defamation laws and believe following America's ideals would only cause havoc and chaos. Society only needs to consider the growing trend of social networking sites to weigh up the implications American laws could have over here if applied. Can you imagine the offensive and defamatory content Facebook, Twitter and Youtube would present if the right to free speech was written into our Constitution! I think we need to draw the line somewhere, and Australian laws seem to do just this appropriately. Lets even consider journalists here....Where would they draw the line??? Would a line even exist??? Probably not. I can only imagine what our news would turn into if free speech were allowed. A disaster!
So let's all stick to our own devices and laws and be proud of our Australian morals and values.
Emma,
ReplyDeleteI wasn't able to make it to class yesterday, so stumbling upon your blog certainly gave me the jist of what I missed. I agree with you in that Australia should adhere to their own defamation laws. Bringing up the issue of what could be produced on Twitter and Youtube if we had the right to freedom of speech within the constitution, played out in the Australian media landscape, could result in a steep decline in credible and professional journalism. I mean, without the laws we have in place today, how could you determine what is a truth and what is complete and utter banter?
I totally agree with you Emma. I also value the fact that Australia has not yet prioritised ratings over morals in news reporting! There certainly seems to be a trend towards the superficial and the unscrupulous in the media, what with the popularity of 'infotainment' (e.g. ninemsn, TMZ, E! news). Hopefully we stick to our guns.
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