Freedom of Speech - Written and Slander

Arthur Schopenhauer once said "The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice." When a black USDA official by the name of ShirleySherrod was forced to resign after a blogger posted a partial version of her speech, the American people were misleading by not only the media but more importantly their own prejudice.

If we examine the media's coverage of the Sherrod story it is easy to point out the missteps made. One of the main missteps made by the media coverage in the Sherrod case was their failure to seek the full truth. Several new stations jumped at the idea of a black women being racist. So much so that they did not take time to find out the full story. For example Fox New's initial report stated "a video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy."The truth of the matter was that only half of Sherrod's speech had been posted on the blog. The actually story was based on poverty. But when you have major news stations reporting half truths that becomes a problem. This report alone helped sway the American public into believing that Sherrod was guilty of racism. Not because of evidence but because of their own prejudices.

Another misstep that occurred doing the story was the failure to check credibility. The media outlets that chose tobelieve the story posted by the blogger did not fully examine thewriter's credentials. Was he a creditable source? Could he be trusted? Had he been present for the entire speech? If these questions had been answered this false image painted by the blogger could have easily been dismissed. But instead the media choose to go with the fact that this was a black women preaching to a black audience in a black power type of manner urging them to support her racist views. Which was very far from the truth?

In the future these mistakes can be avoided. When reporting a story it is a journalist number one goal to examine the entire story. Research and find as much evidence as possible before writing a story that could indeed cause someone to lose their job. Journalist can never forget one of the most important rules of their profession, minimize harm. The reporters covering this story did not fully conduct their jobs. Instead they jumped the gun and followed the opinion of another.

The media made several mistakes covering the Shirley Sherrod case. The only thing that they did correctly was report the story. The speech was indeed news worthy. It was a story that needed to be heard. But in reporting the story they forgot to seek the truth which essential caused the downfall of an amazing speech.

Freedom of speech is a very important aspect of this story. Yes, even if