Samuel R. Staley

The whistleblower film “The Post” was up for two Academy Awards, its critical success powered by Meryl Streep’s stellar performance as Katharine Graham, the legendary owner of The Washington Post. Many have lauded its story for putting the principle of freedom of the press in the public spotlight.

But a more important contribution may be in the film’s uncompromising take on the importance of an independent press, not just a free one. The freedom of the press to “speak truth to power” means little without a willingness to exercise this right, and this principle is at the heart of the movie.

Free speech rights — for all Americans, not just the press — are guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment, the great achievement of its architect, the future president James Madison. At the time the Constitution was drafted and ratified, newspapers were prized watchdogs of government misdeeds, cherished by the founding generation for their ability to publish what they wanted, when they wanted. When Madison crafted the amendment’s language, he specifically aimed to protect the press from government intrusion. He even argued for a broader interpretation of a free press than was enshrined under English common law.

Fast forward to the 1960s, by which time some newspapers, including The Washington Post, had cozied up routinely to entrenched elites to gain access to power rather than calling out their misdeeds. Katharine Graham and her husband, Phillip, were prime culprits,