Media important protector of democratic freedoms

The Fourth Estate fills a crucial role in maintaining our freedoms. Where else would we find out about the goings-on at the Niagara Region council and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority? And these are nothing compared to the Ontario government’s gas plant scandals.

We even see false news spread by powerful presidents.

Where repression and corruption is rampant, we see journalists detained, jailed, or murdered in countries that include China, Egypt, Malta, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Slovakia and Turkey.

The press is a bulwark in our defence. The legitimate press should be free from government and treated as charities.

G. Rowbottom

St. Catharines