Media Savvy Bill of Rights

• You have a right to a variety of media voices in your market, which serve to provide an array of news and information. News should not all look the same, nor use only the same sources and viewpoints.
• You have a right to a variety of news stories on the same subject, to offer you different insight, different facts and different things to think about before forming your opinion.
• You have a right to disagree with opinions you hear and read in the news. What’s in the news is not the judge and jury; it’s simply the first rough draft of history in the making.
• You have a responsibility to speak out when you hear or read news that is inaccurate or limited in scope.
• You have a right to grant an interview or to decline an interview with the media. There’s no “have tos” in this instance; but if you can offer an alternative, enlightening or contradictory point of view, why wouldn’t you?
• You have a responsibility to explain your point of view to the best of your ability when being interviewed.
• You have a right to an interview that allows you to share your knowledge. Reporters who cut you off, or don’t want to hear what you have to say for fear it will blow their story’s premise, aren’t playing fair. Report them to the Fair Media Council.
• You have a right to prepare for interviews not done on immediate deadline. It’s within your right to know the reason a reporter wants an interview. (You do not have a right to the questions in advance.)
• You have a responsibility to act on information you find in the news to make your community a better place.
• You have a right to freedom of speech, just as the news media has a right to freedom of the press. Both you and the media have a responsibility to maintain freedom of speech and the press by providing accurate information to the public.