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Summary Of Re-Thinking Objectivity

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Nowadays, there exist several different forms of media that help keep society informed and updated with the current events. Ronal Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski write about a relatively new but emerging form in “Liberation vs. Control: The Future of Cyberspace”. Whereas, Brent Cunningham addresses a more traditional form in his “Re-thinking Objectivity: Columbia Journalism Review”. In each piece, the authors analyze the process that information is composed and presented to the audience. While Cunningham agrees with Deibert and Rohozinski that the information that is presented to the viewers should go through a filter, they disagree with the level of trust that viewers should place in the information that the government makes accessible to them. …show more content…

With so many different interests come those with harmful intent. Deibert and Rohozinski go into great detail about the use of malware software to collect private information from unsuspecting users. Also, the cyberspace has been a growing network of cybercrime and cyber-espionage. However, they argue that the web can and should be regulated. The government is able to act as a filter for what information internet users are able to view through their various forms of regulation. For instance, legal measures legitimize the actions of governments in issues of copyright and blasphemy. The government can also ask a private actor to censor information on their websites through informal requests. They can even disable or attack content at times through “just-in-time blocking”. These filters are needed and surely justified because the cyberspace can nurture harmful ideas and activity without governance. While some libertarians may prefer for the web to free from governmental regulation, they fail to realize the cyberspace won’t be a safe medium to share information or express one’s views without …show more content…

They believe that the actions of the government in regulation is justified and that it may even be necessary to increase it, “…the United States must be “aggressive” in the cyber-domain…” (Deibert and Rohozinski 73). If it is in the interest of national security, unity, or integrity, then the government has the right to intervene. They cite several examples where governments have censored information from their citizens such as when Bangladesh banned access to YouTube. On the other hand, Cunningham would argue that there is a high level of distrust when journalists who wish to write an “objective” account rely solely on “official” sources from the government. “Government lies about the U2 spy flights, the Cuban missile crisis, and the Vietnam War all cast doubt on the ability of “objective” journalism to get anything close to the truth” (Cunningham 49). Through these well-known examples, Cunningham portrays the national government as untrustworthy so journalists should take it upon themselves to report the truth. Cunningham fails to see why the government may have needed to censor sensitive information to the media and is under the presumption that the American people have the right to know. Deibert and Rohozinski have a different mindset where it may be necessary to have limited access to certain sensitive

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