From: Cynthia McMillin
Columbus
I am increasingly alarmed by the many attacks on the free press, the institution our Founding Fathers gave us in the First Amendment. The current administration’s constant referral to the press as the “enemy of the people” echoes words of the ruthless, murderous Joseph Stalin, a dictator who controlled a government that was the complete antithesis of the republic we were given by the Founders.
The Aug. 16 edition of The Republic contained a letter so misguided and self-contradictory that it demands a prompt reply. The writer claimed that the mainstream media fabricates stories and has no standards. He went on to give three examples that completely contradicted his thesis:
- Dan Rather wrote a story about George Bush based on copies of documents, not originals. Many CBS staff members were fired for this infraction of journalistic standards, and Rather left the network after being told there was no longer a place for him at CBS.
- Brian Williams lied about a heroic helicopter landing during the Iraq War. Williams lost his anchor job with NBC, received a long, unpaid suspension, and was demoted to an 11 p.m. program on a cable station.
- The CNN reporters were fired for their sloppy reporting, as the letter writer acknowledges, thus directly contradicting his own thesis that the media have no standards.
A free press has brought us essential information, information that has made us a better, stronger nation. A few obvious examples come to mind:
- Without tenacious reporters we would never have known the extent of the crimes known as Watergate.
- Print and broadcast news made the country see the full extent of violence and bigotry of the Jim Crow laws in the South.
- Without reporters who risked their lives in a war zone, we would never have learned the whole story of Vietnam.
- Dedicated reporters showed us the atrocities, committed in our name, at Abu Ghraib prison.
Yes, reporters make mistakes, and when they do, their news outlets make corrections, and if appropriate, they sanction those reporters. But a free press is vital to a free society, and we denigrate it at our peril. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote, “Were 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.” Fortunately, we have both. It our responsibility to keep both.
