Argumentative Essay: The First Amendments

985 Words4 Pages

The first amendment may seem like something that is generally understood among all of those who use it, but this may not be the case. While most citizens of the United States of America would certainly say that they understand and can comprehend what the first amendment means, an underlying lack of knowledge, upon what is presumed to be the most important of all the amendments, can still be discovered. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The specific piece of the first amendment that is particularly important …show more content…

As he edged as close as possible to the crowd, they began to start blocking and disrupting his efforts to merely take photos. The absence of media literacy can be found throughout the conflict in a variety of diverse angles, where the protesting students begin to encompass him and assert that he is disrespecting their privacy and that he, essentially, has no rights to be there. One could undoubtably presume that this would be an issue with ethics, and that as a journalist, he should not bother to go too close to them. Except, even so, the underlying problem is that they have a flawed conception of what the media is there to do, and whether or not they have the right to be …show more content…

Once within a public area, pictures are allowed to be taken of you with or without your consent, but even so, many of the students failed to understand and grasp this idea. A large group of the students who were surrounding the journalist believed that he was disrespecting them for being too close and personal while trying to take photos of their tents, which can lead into the forms of ethics. What may be perfectly ethical to one person may not be the same to another, simply because of there being no standard for values between individuals. In the video, which can be found on youtube.com, the journalist appeared to be respectful to the protestors even despite the stressful situation. Surrounding, yelling, and pushing others, whether they be a journalist or not, on a public space while asking for respect can be seen as wrong to some, but it appeared as though the protesters showed a disregard for such views. The misunderstanding that the press cannot take photos on a public space, yet they can protest on this area, shows that they selectively apply only certain parts of the first