Should the 24 hour cable news channels like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc. ever censor content? Is it really journalism if they actively censor themselves or does it just become entertainment? I would think true journalism doesn't involve censoring the subject at hand. When I heard the hosts on these channels quote Blagojevich (the corrupt governor) and use "bleep" instead of what he said, and then giggle like school children, I realized that we no longer have "the news" in america.
How would these people cover the Vietnam War today? Would they have a chuckle over Hitler's mustache during the invasion of Poland? It seems integrity in journalism is gone while gossip and personal commentary is in. I have an idea, lets get five people up on the screen at once and they can all yell over eachother.

The news should not be censored.

I would prefer that they censor the untrue "facts" they report rather than the bleeps.

Assuming you talking about true censorship - the government doing it, absolutely not.

If you are talking about self-censorship, it's up to the management of the network. I'd prefer it not be.

There are two separate issues here -- (1) should television and/or print journalists be permitted to accurately quote a criminal complaint filed in federal court when the quotes contain words that are not otherwise permitted per the standards of the network/publication, and (2) are the journalists acting professionally with the light-hearted way they are approaching the story.

I think the answer to (1) in this case is probably no, particularly as without public release of the wire tapped recordings, the sound bites all come from the prosecutor, and he was the one who introduced the bleeps into the story.

And certainly the answer to (2) is no (in nearly all instances). But, heck, that's not a surprise now, is it??

under Bush the FCC has been trying to tell cable networks they have to follow the same rules as OTA

I understand what you are saying about the legality of released legal documents but I'm not just talking about court cases, I'm talking about everything, in general.

The FCC doesn't oversee cable content, nor should it. But self-censorship isn't right in my opinion anyway. If news channels do this they are basically throwing their credibility out the window. If it were government censorship then we would have to rename America, because we no longer exist; perhaps the People's Rebublic of America, but that's a story for another day.

I think the news media should be sensitive to privacy issues and the like, but when they start censoring things like this



it's just stupid. If you've forgotten, most networks blurred the middle "finger" on these when they were discovered around Boston a few years back.