The Importance of a Free Press

 

Find journalists you trust--they are still out there!

Recently, I have been reading books about World Wars I and II.  Those of you who have followed my blog for over a decade know my interest in history and my admiration for the Constitution, and while I had an interest in America's involvement in wars, I have sought to learn more in the past year. This blog was motivated by a quote from Leon Uris's book Mila 18,--a conversation between a disillusioned news journalist who feels as though his reporting is being ignored and his editor, who encourages him to keep reporting, even when too many are not paying attention.   

    Journalist:  "Can I go on being a journalist under these conditions?  I have learned now that truth is not truth.  Truth is only what people want to believe and nothing more."  

    Editor:  "But you will continue to seek it as a journalist... You have lost sight of the fact that there is a world of decent human beings and a lot of them are listening.  They depend on the Christopher de Monts to be their eyes.  You are not a man to abandon the human race because you have lost a battle."  

The book from which this quote is taken is about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, in which nearly everyone was killed or removed to the extermination prisons.   Christopher de Monts, the disillusioned journalist, was protected by the fighters in the Ghetto and led to safety so that he could live to tell what had happened.  Although Mila 18 is a novel, based on an actual event, it caused me to think about the real journalists that are risking their lives to report the news in violent places.

As of January 1, 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists, have documented deaths in the Gaza-Israel war as 82 journalists and media workers confirmed dead.  The Committee to Protect Journalists have sought since 1992 to document deaths of those who risk their lives to gather news--killed by murder, crossfire, and on dangerous assignments-- and the total since they began is 2,284. 

The 1st Amendment of the American Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ..."  Our Founding Fathers recognized the importance of citizens having access to accurate information in order for the nation to survive.  Although there has always been concern during wars that disclosing information might reveal secrets to the enemy, records from W.W. II report that 67 journalists died over 7 years.  In Vietnam 63 died over 20 years.

Some countries do not allow the same freedom of the press.  According to the World Freedom Index, information from North Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq, and Syria are among those difficult to access information.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Not all deaths of journalists happen on the battlefield.  In October of 2018 Saudi journalist Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.  When telling the truth made it too dangerous for him to remain in his home country, he had left, coming to America to continue reporting as a columnist for the Washington Post newspaper.  Knowing the danger of returning to his own country, but needing some personal documents, he went to the Saudi consulate in Turkey to acquire the documents he needed.  Although he avoided returning to Saudi Arabia, he was killed.  His death is evidence of how important a free press is and a reminder of the courage of men and women who sometimes risk their lives to provide accurate information.   

Our Founding Fathers knew the importance of a free press.  We have had Yellow Journalism perhaps as long as there were printing presses, but people seemed to know that their exaggerations were just that--sensationalism rather than facts.  There were scandal sheets and romanticized magazines that may have been offensive but did little harm.  People found radio, television broadcasters, and newspapers that they trusted for keeping informed.  There were also commentators who expressed opinions, and often there were dueling commentators to offer different points of view, but there was a distinction between news and opinion.   

Find Original Sources that have been documented (Anne Frank's Journal),
.

The world has changed, and sometimes it is hard to find the truth, but a Free Press is still essential for Americans.  We do not want the government dictating our news, but as more unsourced information enters the internet, we have a greater responsibility to make sure we are not allowing ourselves to be duped. Just because someone tells us what we want to hear doesn't make it true.  We must be more vigilant to seek the truth today.  Even evening news today seems to have included more soft news and human-interest stories than in the past, seeming to believe we are more likely to watch if we are entertained. 

The professionalism of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite is difficult to find but important to seek.  Thank goodness for the internet which brings amazing information into our homes, but watch out for the misinformation that it also brings.  Those who choose to distort reality have no moral code.  They have even attempted to challenge the truth of Anne Frank's Journal.  

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, don't let someone convince you that it is a swan.