5. Mike Jerrick, a Fox news anchor in Philadelphia, was suspended indefinitely after commenting on air about White House spokesperson Kellyanne Conway’s term “alternative facts.” Jerrick explained that Conway was “good at bull----” and then immediately apologized to the audience and corrected his comment to say “B.S.” In 2015 Brian Williams, managing editor and nightly news anchor for NBC’s Nightly News, was suspended without pay for six months after the revelation that he had lied about being in a helicopter that came under enemy fire in Iraq several years before.

Are these penalties too severe? Or are they justified considering the size of the media audience Jerrick and Williams command?

Debate these two responses.