Sociedad responsable, medios responsables

Con vertiginosidad se aprecia cómo el mundo es invadido por los medios de comunicación de masas, que cobran una relevancia especial gracias a los avances tecnológicos. La familia y la escuela pierden fuerza socializadora al mismo tiempo que la ganan los medios de comunicación. Esta realidad implica un desafío para los padres, la familia y la administración pública ya que la responsabilidad socializadora
es, por igual, de todos los agentes sociales, también de quienes controlan el poder de los medios de comunicación y de las grandes cadenas de televisión. Nadie duda de la responsabilidad legal de los medios de comunicación, pero poco se habla de su responsabilidad moral y socializadora, de la importancia que sus mensajes y actuaciones poseen para quebrar la pasividad, para incitar a la participación ciudadana.

Se hace urgente e imprescindible unir esfuerzos para que los grandes problemas del mundo en el siglo XXI, que generalmente tienen que ver con la solidaridad y el respeto, tanto hacia las personas como hacia el medio ambiente, estén presentes con criterios de interés global en los medios de comunicación.

Internet: <www.uhu.es/cine> (con adaptaciones).

The press is sometimes called the fourth estate. That is probably too grandiose a concept for most journalists’ tastes — but it does suggest an important, coherent and independent force in society. That “apartness” is crucial. The press does not share the same aims as those of government, the legislature, the executive, religion or commerce. It is, or should be, an outsider.

Stanley Baldwin did not intend it as a compliment when he said of newspapers in 1931 that they had “power without responsibility”. But, in fact, that lack of responsibility is one of the important respects in which the press is different. Of course, the press must be responsible for its own standards and ethics. But it is not the job of journalists to run things: they are literally without responsibility. They don’t have to respond to a party whip, make the compromises necessary in politics or answer to shareholders. They are not bound by the confidentiality agreements that bind others. They are careless of causing inconvenience or embarrassment. They do not have to win votes. They can write things — about the economy, say, or the environment — which may need saying but which are unsayable by politicians. They come from a different place.

Internet: <http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu> (adapted).

Sociedad responsable, medios responsables

Con vertiginosidad se aprecia cómo el mundo es invadido por los medios de comunicación de masas, que cobran una relevancia especial gracias a los avances tecnológicos. La familia y la escuela pierden fuerza socializadora al mismo tiempo que la ganan los medios de comunicación. Esta realidad implica un desafío para los padres, la familia y la administración pública ya que la responsabilidad socializadora
es, por igual, de todos los agentes sociales, también de quienes controlan el poder de los medios de comunicación y de las grandes cadenas de televisión. Nadie duda de la responsabilidad legal de los medios de comunicación, pero poco se habla de su responsabilidad moral y socializadora, de la importancia que sus mensajes y actuaciones poseen para quebrar la pasividad, para incitar a la participación ciudadana.

Se hace urgente e imprescindible unir esfuerzos para que los grandes problemas del mundo en el siglo XXI, que generalmente tienen que ver con la solidaridad y el respeto, tanto hacia las personas como hacia el medio ambiente, estén presentes con criterios de interés global en los medios de comunicación.

Internet: <www.uhu.es/cine> (con adaptaciones).

The press is sometimes called the fourth estate. That is probably too grandiose a concept for most journalists’ tastes — but it does suggest an important, coherent and independent force in society. That “apartness” is crucial. The press does not share the same aims as those of government, the legislature, the executive, religion or commerce. It is, or should be, an outsider.

Stanley Baldwin did not intend it as a compliment when he said of newspapers in 1931 that they had “power without responsibility”. But, in fact, that lack of responsibility is one of the important respects in which the press is different. Of course, the press must be responsible for its own standards and ethics. But it is not the job of journalists to run things: they are literally without responsibility. They don’t have to respond to a party whip, make the compromises necessary in politics or answer to shareholders. They are not bound by the confidentiality agreements that bind others. They are careless of causing inconvenience or embarrassment. They do not have to win votes. They can write things — about the economy, say, or the environment — which may need saying but which are unsayable by politicians. They come from a different place.

Internet: <http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu> (adapted).

The press is sometimes called the fourth estate. That is probably too grandiose a concept for most journalists’ tastes — but it does suggest an important, coherent and independent force in society. That “apartness” is crucial. The press does not share the same aims as those of government, the legislature, the executive, religion or commerce. It is, or should be, an outsider.

Stanley Baldwin did not intend it as a compliment when he said of newspapers in 1931 that they had “power without responsibility”. But, in fact, that lack of responsibility is one of the important respects in which the press is different. Of course, the press must be responsible for its own standards and ethics. But it is not the job of journalists to run things: they are literally without responsibility. They don’t have to respond to a party whip, make the compromises necessary in politics or answer to shareholders. They are not bound by the confidentiality agreements that bind others. They are careless of causing inconvenience or embarrassment. They do not have to win votes. They can write things — about the economy, say, or the environment — which may need saying but which are unsayable by politicians. They come from a different place.

Internet: <http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu> (adapted).

Sociedad responsable, medios responsables

Con vertiginosidad se aprecia cómo el mundo es invadido por los medios de comunicación de masas, que cobran una relevancia especial gracias a los avances tecnológicos. La familia y la escuela pierden fuerza socializadora al mismo tiempo que la ganan los medios de comunicación. Esta realidad implica un desafío para los padres, la familia y la administración pública ya que la responsabilidad socializadora
es, por igual, de todos los agentes sociales, también de quienes controlan el poder de los medios de comunicación y de las grandes cadenas de televisión. Nadie duda de la responsabilidad legal de los medios de comunicación, pero poco se habla de su responsabilidad moral y socializadora, de la importancia que sus mensajes y actuaciones poseen para quebrar la pasividad, para incitar a la participación ciudadana.

Se hace urgente e imprescindible unir esfuerzos para que los grandes problemas del mundo en el siglo XXI, que generalmente tienen que ver con la solidaridad y el respeto, tanto hacia las personas como hacia el medio ambiente, estén presentes con criterios de interés global en los medios de comunicación.

Internet: <www.uhu.es/cine> (con adaptaciones).

The press is sometimes called the fourth estate. That is probably too grandiose a concept for most journalists’ tastes — but it does suggest an important, coherent and independent force in society. That “apartness” is crucial. The press does not share the same aims as those of government, the legislature, the executive, religion or commerce. It is, or should be, an outsider.

Stanley Baldwin did not intend it as a compliment when he said of newspapers in 1931 that they had “power without responsibility”. But, in fact, that lack of responsibility is one of the important respects in which the press is different. Of course, the press must be responsible for its own standards and ethics. But it is not the job of journalists to run things: they are literally without responsibility. They don’t have to respond to a party whip, make the compromises necessary in politics or answer to shareholders. They are not bound by the confidentiality agreements that bind others. They are careless of causing inconvenience or embarrassment. They do not have to win votes. They can write things — about the economy, say, or the environment — which may need saying but which are unsayable by politicians. They come from a different place.

Internet: <http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu> (adapted).