Chapter Sixteen

1. What do you think of current movie rating system? should it be changed? why or why not?
I think it's an awesome system! We discussed in class how young children are wanting to watch more and more movies that are being released and it's important for parents to be able to monitor what our children see. Likewise, as a Christian, I like to know if what I am about to watch is contradictory to my beliefs. If it's pornographic or violent, then I want to know so that I can make plans to either not watch it or to watch something else. I think that the movie rating system is fair and is good way to "check and balance" the freedom of speech/expression that movie writers/producers exercise.

2. Should the fairness doctrine be revived?
I think that we live in a society that offers a fair representation of all views as it is. While each individual news station might not give equal air time to all sides of a story, there are so many ways of obtaining news that one can simply change the channel and find the opposing view. If there were limited news sources, I would agree that it's important to have a doctrine such as the Fairness Doctrine,  but i think that there are enough options to where this is no longer necessary in today's society. Also, there are so many news stations, radio stations and websites that this would be very hard to monitor.

3. Should the united states have a federal shield law to protect reporters?
I would bet more people would want to be reporters if they felt protected and watched over, but I also feel like reporters put themselves out there on the line when choosing the profession so they are in charge of their own protection. To an extent, it would be nice to offer a law to federally protect reporters but I also thing that reporters have a responsibility when covering the news and finding things out that means they might have to divulge certain information if it means keeping people safe. Burning a source is a deadly sin in reporting, but it's also one that could save lives and reporters should understand that going into their work.