Brian Williams writes:
> PROBLEM: The media may have influenced the outcome of the vote.
>
> SOLUTION: Ban all media from polling places, ban all media
> discussion of election results till all polls have
> closed.
Isn't the notion of the "media" becoming obsolete in this day of user to
user communications? I don't think we can usefully distinguish between
the media and ordinary people, when anyone can publish and share his
observations via the Internet.
I would not support banning discussion of elections by individuals. In
the first place such a limitation would be almost impossible to enforce.
In the second place it sets a precedent for further erosion of freedom
of speech, one of the most important principles in guaranteeing freedom.
Ultimately the question is whether to try to limit the flow of
information. It's true that people's behavior may change if they know
more about what is going on, including how people are voting during the
course of election day. But IMO we have to accept this kind of change.
Giving people more information will make many changes in society.
Many of them are good, some of them are potentially bad (at least for
some groups). We have to learn to live with a highly informed society,
rather than fighting this change.
Hal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:21 MDT