Among other things, a sound constitution guarantees the below too:
“Freedom of speech and expression”. “Right against exploitation” and “Freedom of press”.
One of the most essential things required for a citizen is his “Right to receive unbiased information” especially that information which is going to affect his quality of life. I think if this is still not recognized as one of the fundamental rights, it is high time we do so ASAP. Why?
This is an age where businesses and politics use information to their advantage to the hilt. The insidious part is perhaps not where data is gathered, analysed and used for an advantage, but in planting information in the minds of the unsuspecting population.
Planting of information can be in many forms such as –
Planting a paid article with certain bias in a newspaper column
Planting a certain paid opinion as part of acting in certain acts, movies, TV shows etc.,
Funding of R&D programs by lead corporations that are biased with pre-conceived end-results that also publish tailored reports for the public consumption.
Influencing certain global bodies to change habits of the unsuspecting people. (for instance, there are reports about the recommendation of increase in portion-sizes/calorie-needs over a time period which are influenced by food corporations)
Some websites directly crawl the web (without verifying source or the contents) and create AI generated contents. The prompts of such an effort can also generate biased information.
Etc.,
If the paid nature of the said article is not attributed properly alongside the printing in the right fool-proof manner, then all of the above affects the fundamental right of a citizen to have an unbiased information; This unbiased information is expected to be processed by the consumers' own value systems to derive an action for himself/herself (and/or for his/her family) in his/her life pursuits.
Ethical journalism promises – truthfulness and accuracy, independence and objectivity, fairness and honesty, minimizing harm, accountability and transparency, integrity and attribution and avoiding libel.
When everything including the print/media industry is being seen as a set of business activities generating profits, usually the above-mentioned information bias and activities leading to publication of information bias can happen in large scale affecting public consciousness to discern and decide for themselves.
Hence, we need an iron-clad constitution that not only guarantees the fundamental right of public to receive unbiased information, that which also puts forward a framework with possible reference implementations, and that which commissions the creation of a public trust body to promote ethical journalism/media.
A public trust body under the iron-clad constitution with a mandate to promote ethical journalism/media can do the following and more:
Understand the scale and impact of revenue/fees paid by the businesses/organizations that intend to plant paid information to derive business advantage and supplant these funds with its own funding.
Understand the impact of AI generated contents and the monster scale of its reach and influence upon media/newspaper industry and to develop and deploy new products/filters/configurations that help deploy unbiased information for the general public
Under this public trust, some of the popular national and regional/provincial/local newspapers can be funded to some extent so that organic creative content can be printed to the public’s advantage. The said newspapers USPs will ensure their own profitability and revenue intake, while a part of their revenue is committed back to the trust.
Promote new configurations in the print/media industry to not only promote unbiased organic information but also in generating and sharing the revenue through the same public trust. Thus, the entire print/media eco system is delivered from crippling life threatening operational costs and is also run in an uninfluenced manner (for example for publicly recognized and accomplished journalists, the salary may be paid from the trust funds).
The mandate of such an iron-clad constitution will also influence the product developments of tech products like browsers and websites so that the end customers will have the freedom to turn off paid and AI generated contents.
Such a constitution may also mandate the framework for the educational course contents, pedagogy styles related to press/media university courses and also can administer an oath to the media/press practitioners upon graduation (just like the Hippocrates oath for the doctors) and tie them to honour the pledge. The same public trust can also act not only as a watch dog but also as a protectant of the practitioners from undue influences.
Reference:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_rights
2. https://www.mayoan.com/technology/02.--a-concern-on-ai-outcomes
3. https://simplyglobalmedia.com/media-law-and-ethics-glossary/ethics-in-journalism
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