Instigator / Pro
10
1558
rating
4
debates
100.0%
won
Topic
#1633
Resolved: In the United States, reporters ought to have the right to protect the identity of confidential sources.
Status
Finished
The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.
Winner & statistics
After 10 votes and with 10 points ahead, the winner is...
Zaradi
Parameters
- Publication date
- Last updated date
- Type
- Standard
- Number of rounds
- 3
- Time for argument
- One week
- Max argument characters
- 10,000
- Voting period
- One month
- Point system
- Winner selection
- Voting system
- Open
Contender / Con
0
1472
rating
2
debates
0.0%
won
Description
No information
Round 1
Only
utilitarianism encompasses the usefulness of wellbeing or avoiding pain.
Governments must use util.
Goodin Robert, 1995, Philosopher of
Political Theory, Public Policy, and Applied Ethics. Utilitarianism as a Public
Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, pg. 26-27
Util … ensures … that policies are sensitive to … interests … The reason public action is required … arises from the inability of … individual action to achieve … desirable ends. … makes it morally incumbent upon individuals to organize … into collective units … capable of acting where … individuals are not. …. Individuals … are … circumscribed in how they can operate, in their collective mode. And those special constraints characterizing the public sphere … give rise to … util…
ADV 1 – Corruption
Key issues include the influence of wealthy individuals over government; “pay to play” politics and the revolving doors between elected government office, for-profit companies, and professional associations; and the abuse of the US financial system by corrupt foreign kleptocrats and local elites. … Nearly six in ten people now say that the level of corruption has risen in the past twelve months, up from around a third who said the same in January 2016. A new survey by Transparency International, the US Corruption Barometer 2017, … shows that the US government and some key institutions of power still have a long way to go to win back citizens’ trust. … Almost 7 out of 10 people believe the government is failing to fight corruption, … 55 per cent gave fear of retaliation as the main reason not to report corruption, … 74 per cent said ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption. … Of these categories, government institutions and officials in Washington are perceived to be the most corrupt in the country. …
The press can often be viewed as operating as a “watchdog” for the government … Numerous stories concerning government malfeasance can be traced to anonymous government sources. … [i]n the years since Watergate, literally thousands of stories concerning government corruption, mismanagement, … have resulted from information provided to reporters under promises of confidentiality.”… some of the “biggest” stories involving government corruption, … has resulted from information provided by anonymous sources or “leaks” … Without reporter’s privilege protection, it is unlikely that these stories would ever have seen the light of day or received the amount of attention that they did. … If protection of their identity had not been guaranteed, they might not have been as willing to share information and expose government wrongdoing.
It is often assumed in the United States that corruption is somebody else's problem. … It is unlikely that this belief stems from a mass self-delusion on the part of American citizens that their public servants are angels. The evidence to the contrary is all too apparent in the media. … the cost of corruption may be underappreciated in the United States … we assume that, even though a few officials may be bad, the "system" is good. … Higher conviction rates of public officials are strongly related to lower economic growth. Our OLS results suggest that corruption plays at least as great a role in explaining the growth experiences of U.S. states as other macroeconomic determinants like population and education. … corruption becomes even more of a drag on growth. … Capital markets in the United States are heavily integrated and capital flows are highly elastic. When a culture of corruption in a state raises uncertainty or the cost of doing business, capital flows to more amenable institutional environments. … investment is reduced in states with higher corruption rates … Identifying the causes of corruption and implementing costly strategies to reduce it are justified…
… economic considerations within states can figure prominently into the calculus for future conflicts. … security issues with economic or financial underpinnings will transcend classical determinants of war and conflict, and change the manner by which rival states engage in hostile acts toward one another. … security concerns emanating from economic uncertainty and the inherent vulnerabilities within global financial markets will present new challenges for national security, and provide developing states new asymmetric options for balancing against stronger states.¶ The security areas, … are likely to mature into global security threats in the immediate future. … the overlapping security issues associated with economic decline and reduced military spending by the United States will affect allied confidence in America’s security guarantees. … this outcome could cause regional instability or realignments of strategic partnerships in the Asia-pacific region with ramifications for U.S. national security. Rival states and non-state groups may also become emboldened to challenge America’s status … The potential risks associated with stolen or loose WMD, resulting from poor security, can also pose a threat to U.S. national security. … financial constraints affect weapons security making weapons vulnerable to theft, and how financial factors can influence WMD proliferation … inherent vulnerabilities within the global financial markets will provide terrorists’ organizations and other non-state groups, … with opportunities to disrupt global finance and perhaps weaken America’s status. …
Forfeited
Round 2
Extend
Forfeited
Round 3
Extend
Forfeited
“Economic decline caused by corruption triggers uncertainty and national security concerns – foreign rivals are emboldened to challenge American instability and vulnerabilities trigger loose nukes...”
I’ll be honest, I lol’d.
GG EZ Dub
Snitches can be scumbags but sometimes you have to be a scumbag to take down bigger scumbags, life is not so simple.
If you agree to define "the right to protect confidential sources" as absolute (i.e. without exception), then I would take Con.
Definitions are half of any debate. And if you think there's no recourse to someone defining something in a way that makes the debate unfair then you're not thinking particularly hard. That being said, I dont plan on defining something unfairly.
I think it's only fair to your opponent that you provide crucial definitions. How one defines "right to protect the identity of confidential sources" is paramount to the nature of the debate. If you plan to merely argue it is a right that could have exceptions, then there is a serious burden on your opponent. If you instead plan to argue that it is an absolute right that has no exceptions, there is more of a burden on you.
There is a difference between deciding on exact arguments and making clear the position you intend to advocate for. As the debate is set up right now, there is not way to discern what exact position you will be arguing for.
I mean, I haven't decided on what my exact arguments will be. You can certainly argue the opposite.
For the purposes of this debate, is this "right" you speak of absolute? In other words, do you plan to argue there are no circumstances under which a reporter should be compelled to reveal a confidential source?