Dave Farber
2018-08-16 09:56:23 UTC
Date: August 16, 2018 at 5:23:31 PM GMT+9
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] A Free Press Needs You
A Free Press Needs You
By NYT Editorial Board
Aug 15 2018
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/15/opinion/editorials/free-press-local-journalism-news-donald-trump.html>
In 1787, the year the Constitution was adopted, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote to a friend, âWere it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.â
Thatâs how he felt before he became president, anyway. Twenty years later, after enduring the oversight of the press from inside the White House, he was less sure of its value. âNothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper,â he wrote. âTruth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.â
Jeffersonâs discomfort was, and remains, understandable. Reporting the news in an open society is an enterprise laced with conflict. His discomfort also illustrates the need for the right he helped enshrine. As the founders believed from their own experience, a well-informed public is best equipped to root out corruption and, over the long haul, promote liberty and justice.
âPublic discussion is a political duty,â the Supreme Court said in 1964. That discussion must be âuninhibited, robust, and wide-open,â and âmay well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.â
In 2018, some of the most damaging attacks are coming from government officials. Criticizing the news media â for underplaying or overplaying stories, for getting something wrong â is entirely right. News reporters and editors are human, and make mistakes. Correcting them is core to our job. But insisting that truths you donât like are âfake newsâ is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the âenemy of the peopleâ is dangerous, period.
These attacks on the press are particularly threatening to journalists in nations with a less secure rule of law and to smaller publications in the United States, already buffeted by the industryâs economic crisis. And yet the journalists at those papers continue to do the hard work of asking questions and telling the stories that you otherwise wouldnât hear. Consider The San Luis Obispo Tribune, which wrote about the death of a jail inmate who was restrained for 46 hours. The account forced the county to change how it treats mentally ill prisoners.
Answering a call last week from The Boston Globe, The Times is joining hundreds of newspapers, from large metro-area dailies to small local weeklies, to remind readers of the value of Americaâs free press. These editorials, some of which weâve excerpted, together affirm a fundamental American institution.
If you havenât already, please subscribe to your local papers. Praise them when you think theyâve done a good job and criticize them when you think they could do better. Weâre all in this together.
[snip]
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-------------------------------------------Subject: [Dewayne-Net] A Free Press Needs You
A Free Press Needs You
By NYT Editorial Board
Aug 15 2018
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/15/opinion/editorials/free-press-local-journalism-news-donald-trump.html>
In 1787, the year the Constitution was adopted, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote to a friend, âWere it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.â
Thatâs how he felt before he became president, anyway. Twenty years later, after enduring the oversight of the press from inside the White House, he was less sure of its value. âNothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper,â he wrote. âTruth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.â
Jeffersonâs discomfort was, and remains, understandable. Reporting the news in an open society is an enterprise laced with conflict. His discomfort also illustrates the need for the right he helped enshrine. As the founders believed from their own experience, a well-informed public is best equipped to root out corruption and, over the long haul, promote liberty and justice.
âPublic discussion is a political duty,â the Supreme Court said in 1964. That discussion must be âuninhibited, robust, and wide-open,â and âmay well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.â
In 2018, some of the most damaging attacks are coming from government officials. Criticizing the news media â for underplaying or overplaying stories, for getting something wrong â is entirely right. News reporters and editors are human, and make mistakes. Correcting them is core to our job. But insisting that truths you donât like are âfake newsâ is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the âenemy of the peopleâ is dangerous, period.
These attacks on the press are particularly threatening to journalists in nations with a less secure rule of law and to smaller publications in the United States, already buffeted by the industryâs economic crisis. And yet the journalists at those papers continue to do the hard work of asking questions and telling the stories that you otherwise wouldnât hear. Consider The San Luis Obispo Tribune, which wrote about the death of a jail inmate who was restrained for 46 hours. The account forced the county to change how it treats mentally ill prisoners.
Answering a call last week from The Boston Globe, The Times is joining hundreds of newspapers, from large metro-area dailies to small local weeklies, to remind readers of the value of Americaâs free press. These editorials, some of which weâve excerpted, together affirm a fundamental American institution.
If you havenât already, please subscribe to your local papers. Praise them when you think theyâve done a good job and criticize them when you think they could do better. Weâre all in this together.
[snip]
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