Thomas Jefferson said, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
He also said, "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle."
Which is it? Freedom stands on a free press? Or, can nothing in a newspaper be believed?
Apparently both.
A Pew Research Center survey last week revealed that Americans believe in a free press, but only sometimes---not all the time.
Be informed, not misled.
In November of 1737, Ben Franklin printed (and possibly authored) an essay in The Pennsylvania Gazette entitled “On Freedom of Speech and the Press,” which observed that “Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government.” It further observed that “An evil magistrate entrusted with power to punish for words, would be armed with a weapon the most destructive and terrible. Under the pretense of pruning off the exuberant branches, he would be apt to destroy the tree.”
While the Leftists claim to be "saving democracy," they are "destroying the tree."
The "tree" has fallen under the press that has become the "evil magistrate entrusted with power to punish for words."
"Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (73%) say the freedom of the press – enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – is extremely or very important to the well-being of society," the Pew Research Center reported last week. "An additional 18% say it is somewhat important, and 8% say it is a little or not at all important."
While support for press freedom varies across demographic groups, "there are no major differences by political party."
"About half of U.S. adults (51%) say that the publication of false information should always be prevented, even if it means press freedom could be limited," adds Pew. "Meanwhile, 46% of Americans say press freedom should always be protected, even if it means false information could be published."
How do you support press freedom and make it secondary to suppressing "false information?"
Who Watches the Misinformation Watchmen?
I do not agree with some of Reason's statements. However, I do agree with their views on freedom of the press in this article.
Reason Magazine says, "A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable," that newspaper's Craig Whitlock reported in 2019.
Two years later, the U.S. chaotically withdrew from that country amidst circumstances that continue to bring official credibility into question to this day.
In the intervening years, federal officials clashed with critics over public health policy, elections, and other issues. Rather than debate appropriate response to the pandemic, the origins of COVID-19, or the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, agencies from the CDC to the FBI leaned on social media companies to suppress what they claimed, often with little evidence, was false and misleading messaging.
But alleged "misinformation" and "disinformation" often involved disputes among people with fundamental disagreements over what is true. Those with government jobs sought to silence their rivals rather than admit lockdown orders could do enormous damage, or that the pandemic may have originated in a lab leak, or that the president's son really did abandon a laptop full of damning data.
Last September, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found such suppression "in violation of the First Amendment" and issued an injunction to prevent further arm-twisting.
The problem with a partisan press and a lack of trust.
A big part of the problem is that, like everything else in this country at this time, the media is politicized and polarized. The bulk of the media favors Democrats and the left, while a smaller but significant segment favors Republicans and the right.
Reason says, "In those often partisan-leaning media operations, 55 percent of journalists 'say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news,' Pew Research reported in 2022. That represented the view of 69 percent of journalists working for left-leaning publications and 42 percent of right-leaning ones. 'By contrast, 22% of Americans overall say the same, whereas about three-quarters (76%) say journalists should always strive to give all sides equal coverage.' That disagreement has consequences."
"Fifty percent of Americans feel most national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public," finds the Knight Foundation in its most recent (2022) report.
Knight said, "Democracy in America relies on an independent press to inform citizens with accurate information. Yet today, two forces pose significant challenges to this function: the growing struggle of news organizations to maintain financial independence and the growing distrust of news among the public."
Takeaway
In 1971, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black said, “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.”
The freedom of the press, protected by the First Amendment, is critical to a democracy where the government is accountable to the people.
Black said, "The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people."
That has been lost. The news media have squandered the treasure of a "free press" by becoming little more than an oracle---an echo chamber for the Left and their Leftist destructive ideas.
I believe the next seven months leading up to the presidential election will be the most trying and deceptive we have seen since Abraham Lincoln's time in our country.
It is written that God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Christians must understand their times.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.