Freedom of the press must be preserved

The purpose of the First Amendment was to ensure the means to monitor those in power.

For me, one of the most troubling issues in our current political climate is the negativity around the press. Our president has called the press “the most dishonest human beings on Earth” and has blasted them as “dishonest,” “disgusting” and “scum.” And it’s not just the president — I see it on TV, newspaper editorials, tweets, and Facebook posts.

Our Founding Fathers created a government structure to ensure that we the people control our own destiny, knowing that big government cannot be trusted and power corrupts. So, in addition to the brilliant checks and balances of the three branches of government, they also gave us the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which includes the allimportant “freedom of the press”. The purpose of this clause was to ensure that the people have a means to monitor the people in power. As noted in the Supreme Court decision New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.”

The need for a free press was made clear with the Watergate scandal, where two young reporters were able to alert the people to corruption in the highest levels of government. And let us never forget the censorship in Nazi Germany, where all media were censored to reinforce Nazi power and to suppress opposing viewpoints and information. We cannot get to that point. While we clearly need to keep an eye out for bias and ensure fact-based reporting (especially in today’s social media world), we know that most reputable journalists are just doing their job —

The need for a free press was made clear with the Watergate scandal, where two young reporters were able to alert the people to corruption in the highest levels of government. And let us never forget the censorship in Nazi Germany, where all media were censored to reinforce Nazi power and to suppress opposing viewpoints and information.

a job that our forefathers deemed as critical to our democracy. I am eternally grateful for all of the hardworking journalists out there (especially the White House press corps) that are striving to keep our government in check, and keep us informed. Thank you, and keep up the good work! Jack Leitmeyer Harleysville