TV stations in USA have openly been politicized. They have been a little all over the world, let's not make the mistake of single out the USA. But this country just took it to a whole new (and openly public) level. A good bunch of Americans don't even care about TV in their country anymore for this reason, except for entertainment shows.
The elevation of free speech to the status of almost a national anthem have eventually led to highly questionable interpretations of journalist professional ethics. I mean, the
Journalist's Creed hasn't changed in over 100 years. But the interpretation of its precepts has in ways that best serves the interests of the professionals and the companies they represent. (that's what you get when you write vague s* that you pretend to pass for a rule of conduct).
There's such a thing as too much civil rights. Human societies are regulated for a reason. Left to our own devises, we tend to mess up. To me, the problem of channels like FOX or CBS is not an issue of journalistic integrity per se, but a consequence of the way the american society has come to understand and exercise their rights; A degeneration of ethics when you overvalue free speech.
Someone will ask me where then do we draw the line. I always have trouble with this question, because for all matters where something is obviously wrong, the answer is that the line is right there. I mean, where else? The idea that we should hold it for a moment and discuss ethical behavior before changing anything, as if ethics was something that could actually be fully realized, is exactly what puts us in this situation where we slowly erode our principles. By not acting, we are indeed acting.
Just one more thing I'd like to add in relation to this: The web is, on the other hand, the most dangerous thing that happened to journalism in terms of professional ethics. In here no one needs to be a journalist, but everyone can pretend they are. What's worse, readers often realize the person who writes as if they were doing journalistic work. You head on to a website like Ars Technica and you'll see people from all walks of life writing to it... every time some news piece is questioned or questionable for its integrity, there's always someone defend the journalistic integrity of the author or the website in general. Trouble is, the author isn't a journalist and the website isn't officially credited as news media.
This dilution of the profession weakens it. It was as if because you applied a patch to your daughter sore knee you are a doctor. Come with time (and that time has already come) the profession looses its identity and the professionals their respect.
