Last fall when the Green Bay Packers won and lost record was 4 and 6, their outstanding quarterback Arron Rodgers told everyone to relax and said the team could run the table. Under his leadership, they did exactly that. They won the final six games of the regular season and the first two games of the playoffs until they lost to Atlanta in the NFL championship game.
As thrilling as this epic sports story may be, it is not a guide as to how everyone should react to the threat facing freedom of the press at this moment in the history of our country.
President Donald J. Trump labels the press the enemy of the people. His outrageous and inaccurate public statements, ridiculous and sometimes insulting late night twits, along with denying accredited reporters access to press conferences in the White House are all part of the same objective: to weaken the confidence of the American people in the press and news media. The goal is to manipulate public opinion to his interests. Throughout history, people like President Trump and members of his White House staff believe if a statement, “alternative fact” or absolutely stupid utterance, whether true or not, is said frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.
As Americans, regardless of how we voted, we cannot just sit back and hope the U.S. Supreme Court will come to the aid of freedom of the press as they did on June 30, 1971, when it overturned the Nixon administration’s effort to restrain The New York Times and The Washington Post from publishing a top-secret history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers.
We must be proactive. Freedom of the press depends on every citizen in every walk of life, What can Mr. & Mrs. Average America do? First and foremost: stay informed. Subscribe and read a variety of news publications, e.g. dailies, weeklies, and monthly magazines. Another good way is to watch a variety of news broadcasts and talk shows as time permits. Do not be taken in by glib statements about promises kept.
Thomas Jefferson said a lot of things; the one I remember the most is that given a choice of government without a free press or a free press without government, he would choose the latter. I side with Jefferson.
