Liable, Malice, Reckless.......

Liable, malice, and reckless endangerment are probably the three most important words to any journalist.  These are things you must be aware of when writing in a journalistic environment.  The text book definition of Liable is, “legally responsible: you are liable for the damage caused by your action.”  We must be aware of this when writing anything about any individuals.  Fact checking is imperative in regards to liable.  If you fact check consistently and are sure what you’re printing is true you should not have a problem with liable.  The definition of malice is, “the desire to do harm or mischief.”  If you are attempting to commit malice in the world of print for any reason be sure your career will be short lived.  This is something anyone who wants to be a serious journalist should have no problem with.  There may be things we want to write and print about people we don’t like, but it’s immoral and illegal in this case.  Reckless Endangerment is defined as, “reckless endangerment is a charge which can be filed against people who engage in activity with foreseeable dangerous consequences with a disregard for the danger involved.”  This is different than malice.  It doesn’t directly involve any individuals but can be dangerous for people in general.  This is what the American government would have considered what Daniel Ellsberg was doing with the Pentagon Papers.  All three of these things are probably the most important things for any journalist to be aware of.