Gates 1

Lindsay Gates

Matt Merkel

COMM 1500

2 May 2019

Final Paper

Only 13 percent of the world’s population enjoys a Free press—that is, a media

environment where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed,

state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or

economic pressures (Freedom of the Press 2017). The United States is one of few countries in

the world that provides the right of freedom of the press. Freedom of the press in the United

States is protected by the First Amendment, which says "Congress shall make no law....abridging

(limiting) the freedom of speech, or of the press...". Without this Amendment, there would be no

protection of freedom of speech and the press, and without freedom of speech there is no

democracy. We need a free press in this country if we, as individuals, want to remain free.

Before our country even came into being, our founding fathers deeply believed in being

free as individuals and as a nation. “Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and

vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates,” Benjamin Franklin

declared. By sharing knowledge and sparking debate, a free press invigorates and educates the

nation’s citizens. Freedom will be “a short-lived possession” unless the people are informed,

Thomas Jefferson once said. To quote John Adams: “The liberty of the press is essential to the

security of the state” (Importance Of A Free Press). The original thirteen colonies felt so

oppressed by the British government that they decided to take action against them. Yes, many of
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these problems stemmed from the massive amounts of taxes that the British enforced on these

citizens, however, the British also eliminated their right to freedom of speech. They were not

allowed to ever publish any sort of newspapers, papers, books, etc. without a government granted

license from England. Obviously, this eventually caused enough tension that the founding fathers

decided to cut ties with England’s rule altogether. These people from the past worked so hard to

escape oppression and to ensure that we have a right to freedom of the press, among other things,

can we really afford to allow this right to continue to deteriorate?

Without freedom of the press, it would be too easy for corrupt people to spread false

propaganda. This constitutional right helps us to keep our leaders accountable for the things that

they say, and the actions that they make. Many of our government leaders complain about the

press and their coverage, including our own president. This is only because the press is doing

their job and is keeping these people in check. “A free press is the symbol of a free people. An

independent, well-informed press is a powerful check on arbitrary governments and irresponsible

administrators. For newspapers are agents of the public, which bring to the notice of the people

acts of injustice or oppression, or mal-administration that would otherwise have remained hidden

away from public knowledge. They augur misgovernment at a distance and sniff the approach of

tyranny in every tainted breeze’ (Burke). They exercise a constant vigilance on the rulers, which

is salutary for all” (Mangaraj). The press is one of the few barriers standing between our leaders

and complete corruption. It is essential that the press remains free and out of control of the

government, so that we as a people can be kept aware of the happenings in our democracy.

Newspapers, journals, and magazines can be and are censored by the government.

If there is explicit content or content that is not agreed with by the government, then the

newspaper, magazine, or journal article is removed from the public view. However, this is not
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always the case on a global level. In Paris, France on January 7, 2015, two brothers who claimed

to be part of Al-Qaeda, forced their way into the offices of the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

They shot and killed 12 people and injured 11. This newspaper was antireligious and secularist

and continually published newspaper articles that mock Muslims, Jews, and Catholics. This

deeply offended the brothers because of their loyalty to their religion, and they decided to

commit an act of terrorism because of it. Which begs the question, are our leaders’ desires to

operate in secret really important enough that human lives should be taken to ensure that this is

possible? Censorship does not need to be enforced, but still is, and one of the only reasons for it

is so that the government can retain power and control over citizens.

Government censorship is more harmful than beneficial. It will make citizens feel

as if they have no privacy and no choice and in response, they will find ways around censorship.

This will only cause corruption in United States, which is why press in the United States

continually exposes these kinds of injustices to the public. The American Civil Liberties Union is

a national organization that defends and preserves the rights guaranteed to all Americans by the

Constitution. The ACLU argue that government censorship is a greater threat to society than any

controversial art and entertainment. According to them, studies that have been conducted to find

harmful effects of sex and violence in media have provided no conclusive evidence (Burns 115).

Therefore, there is no proof found in these studies that these harmful forms of art and

entertainment affect people negatively or should be censored and hidden from the public. It is

more effective to exercise freedom of speech and explain why material is objectionable. Each

and every individual has the right to decide for themselves what articles or entertainment he or

she wants or does not want to view.

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Government censorship also means that a government can keep important information

from citizens. By trying to bypass the press, a government can keep information from citizens for

personal gain only. This can be used to hide political corruption and abuse of power in a

government, which will cause citizens to doubt the government and will cause more chaos than

good in most circumstances. The government may claim that it is keeping citizens away from

harmful information, but in reality, they are just using it for power and to help themselves. An

incredibly good example of this has to do with the Mueller report and the investigation into the

Trump campaign. The campaign tried to keep all of this information a secret from the public, and

tried to undermine the election, however, the press and other “whistleblowers” were able to

expose this problem to the American people. Throughout this entire investigation, Trump and his

aides repeatedly lied to everyone about these circumstances. The Mueller report documents at

least 77 specific instances where President Donald Trump's campaign staff, administration

officials and family members, Republican backers and his associates lied or made false

assertions (sometimes unintentionally) to the public, Congress, or authorities, according to a new

CNN analysis. The plurality of lies came from Trump himself, and most of them took place

while he was president (Polantz and Cohen).

It is because of instances such as these that freedom of the press is a necessity in our

country. Without the press, we may have never known about this or other circumstances, and we

would have been worse for it. We cannot allow our government officials to steer our country,

which is fundamentally based on Democracy, in the ways that they think are best for us. We

need to take a stand against tyranny in any way that we can, especially by supporting the press

and their right to be free. This is the only way that we can continue to live as the founding fathers

intended – free from oppressive rule.

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Works Cited

Burns, Kate. Censorship. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2004. Print.

“Freedom of the Press 2017.” Freedom House, 9 Nov. 2017, freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-

press/freedom-press-2017.

“Importance Of A Free Press.” Charles Koch Institute, www.charleskochinstitute.org/issue-

areas/free-speech-and-toleration/importance-of-a-free-press/.

Mangaraj, Subrat. “Essay on the Freedom of the Press.” PreserveArticles.com: Preserving Your
Articles for Eternity, 29 Mar. 2011, www.preservearticles.com/essay/freedom-of-the-
press/3228.

Polantz, Katelyn, and Marshall Cohen. “The Mueller Report: A Catalog of 77 Trump Team Lies
and Falsehoods.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Apr. 2019,
www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/politics/mueller- report-trump-team-lies-
falsehoods/index.html.