The importance of a free press, by student reporter Dean Szanyi

By Dean Szanyi | Student Reporter

Americans often take for granted the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment – freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Many countries don’t grant the news media the same freedom, and it is imperative that that right be protected and preserved.

The government’s persecution of whistleblowers in recent years, and a growing hostility towards the news media, send a message that some things are off limits for journalists, and that they can’t count on government protection. But given that the U.S. is a democratic republic, Americans have the right to know about their government’s activities, and the press has the right to report them. In fact, the press has the right to publish secret information in the public interest. As a nation that grants citizens political power by allowing them to vote, the government shouldn’t limit what those citizens learn about what the government is up to.

 Given the bipartisanship in American politics, a free and unbiased press is vital. Confirmation bias is real, and journalists must report facts whether people want to hear them or not. Most of the action taken against whistleblowers in recent years has been by elected officials whose agendas are threatened by the whistleblower’s reporting.

The role of the press in society is to represent public interest and speak truth to power.

A free press sends a message to the government that they should not do anything that they don’t want the public to know. Donald Trump is a notable example of a politician who is hostile towards the news media, and it is not difficult to see why. According to journalist Alexandra Ellerbeck, “Journalists have fact-checked more than 10,000 falsehoods from the President, investigated claims of sexual harassment, and unearthed years of questionable tax schemes.” This trend didn’t start with the Trump administration. Following 9/11, the government seized the opportunity to hide more of its activities from the public, including unprecedented levels of surveillance, even of its own citizens. Reporters worked doubly hard to gain access to classified information about surveillance, government misconduct, and misguided foreign policies.

 Freedom of  the press is important because, in addition to upholding the rights of reporters and the public, being a journalist is a dangerous job in today’s world. Many have had legal action taken against them; for example, the Obama Administration jailed more leakers under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined. Many journalists operate with the real possibility that they might be punished for doing their job. The real question is how the government gets away with prosecuting journalists, since the First Amendment protects their right to publicize classified information in the name of public interest. Besides legal action, many journalists risk actual violence. When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered in Turkey, Trump covered for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, widely believed to have ordered the execution. While the Saudi government is far less democratic than ours, it is still disturbing that a government official ordered a journalist murdered. Trump’s assistance to the crown prince sends a terrible message to all U.S. journalists.

The extent to which the press is truly free in the U.S., and how free it should be, has been widely discussed in recent years. The news media’s honesty has been repeatedly called into question by politicians, and the public. In a 2016 Gallup poll on ethics by profession, only 23 percent ranked journalists very high or high, just above lawyers, who came in at 18 percent. Due to the rise of “fake news,” many people believe that the press is unreliable, and protecting it is not a priority. What these people don’t realize is that the fact that “fake news” has become such a talking point in recent years is precisely the reason the press needs more protection, not less. According to linguist Noam Chomsky, “private power can coerce and control, but in indirect ways. An aroused public can bring about significant changes in the functioning of power systems, and has often done so. That includes the mass media.” 

One of the great things about the First Amendment is that it protects the American people’s right to speak out against government policies they find unfair, and if the public is unhappy with the press, they can speak out against that as well. In fact, journalists are currently under more public scrutiny than ever, which only continues to encourage them to do their jobs fairly and honestly – much like how journalists encourage that same sort of responsibility in the government. Many who doubt the news media’s honesty have been misguided by politicians with their own agendas, and fail to realize that the press’ role in society is to represent public interest and speak truth to power.

The U.S. must protect freedom of the press, because the news media encourages both government officials and the voting public to make the best decisions they can. Unfortunately, many officials have taken measures against journalists, especially those who publicize government secrets in the public interest, which possibly indicates that the Constitutional right to a free press is either being taken for granted or ignored entirely. Meanwhile, many members of the general public are convinced that the news media is run by liars, sometimes because of genuinely unreliable news outlets, but usually because of confirmation bias, and faith in politicians who are afraid of the press’ ability to inform the public about their wrongdoings. 

While some people believe that the press is the enemy of the people, it is actually one of the people’s strongest defenders, and its freedom must be protected if freedom means anything to United States elected officials at all.

Dean Szanyi, 18, is a senior at Sonoma Valley High School.