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The Press Is Not the Enemy of the People
A Sojourner’s Truth
Editorial
“The basis of our government being the opinion of the
people, the very first object should be to keep that right;
and 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. But I should mean that every man should receive
those papers and be capable of reading them”
– Thomas Jefferson, 1787
The lofty ideals of the
founding fathers are soon to be consigned to the deep if the
current leader of this government has his fondest wish
granted. According to president # 45, the media is the enemy
of the people not, as Jefferson judged, the “opinion of the
people.”
Sadly, the only reason for
the president’s antipathy for the media is his belief that
many members of the media don’t like him. And truth be told,
they don’t
Just as with so many
Americans – most Americans, according to polls from the
start of his campaign to now, do not like this president.
There simply is not much to like. He’s arrogant,
narcissistic, totally indifferent to the concerns of his
fellow Americans. Above all, he’s a liar, an inveterate
liar, a compulsive liar.
However, the concept of
freedom of the press, as outlined in our Constitution, is
that the press, if they so choose, are free not to like
whomever the press chooses not to like – that’s what freedom
means. According to the Constitution, the press doesn’t have
to be nice to the people’s elected officials; doesn’t have
to tell the truth about those elected officials; doesn’t
have to be fair and balanced. That’s according to the
Constitution.
What the press does have
to do, not according to the Constitution under which it is
protected, but according to tradition and in order to
achieve success in a capitalistic society, is be “the
opinion of the people.” The people ultimately decide what
they want to read or listen to or watch, and what they read
reflects their opinion. If a portion of the press is out of
step with a vast majority of the people, they cannot be
profitable and find success.
This president’s problem
with the press is clearly self-inflicted. Many in the press
and the public might have guessed or hoped that he would
act, well … presidential … after he assumed office even
though the contempt he showed for the opinion of the people
during his campaign was surely an indication of his true
sentiment.
In the aftermath of his
inauguration, the lies started in a huge way – his
statements, his press secretary’s statements, the statements
from the one press outlet that fawns over him – with the
size of his inauguration crowd. And the lies continue – well
over 4,000 to date, according to the Washington Post.
If we have rarely seen
this much antipathy in the press towards a president, we
have surely never seen a president who chooses to do battle
so frequently against so many, insulting on an hourly basis
the press, allied nations, people of color, folks in the
other party, folks in his own party, folks in his own
administration and cabinet, folks in the government he
leads.
This president antagonizes
all around and then expresses dismay at what he perceives to
be antagonism focused on him. That is not the manner in
which an effective leader operates – with such a
thin-skinned belligerence that creates animosity and divides
the nation.
This past weekend, the
president tweeted that he would approve of a boycott of
Harley Davidson, an American company, if they start building
motorcycles overseas to sell to their foreign customers.
This is a company that will take a huge blow because of the
president’s tariffs on imported steel, a company that is
willing to hold the line on its prices for its U.S.
customers in spite of the loss. This president is suggesting
that Americans boycott this American company in favor of
foreign manufacturers because they will build products
overseas just as he has done with his clothing products. How
can a president speak this way of an American manufacturing
company?
The list goes on. This
president wants his voice heard at any moment, on every
occasion, about every issue. He also wants to be the only
voice on each and every issue. However, even if he were
inclined to be truthful in his remarks, he would still get
pushback – that’s what happens to the leader of the free
world. The lies ensure such pushback.
If there is an enemy of
the American people, it is most assuredly not the press.
“The only security of all is in a free press. The force of
public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to
be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted
to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.”
Thomas Jefferson - 1823 |
