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Editorial: Independence Day
July 2nd, 2006

Editorial: Once Again...
June 25th, 2006

Editorial: Home Ownership
June 24th, 2006

Editorial: Mosquito Control in Cedar Key
May 11th, 2006

Editorial: Will Gas Prices Go Up?
April 30th, 2006

Editorial: Tree Ordinance Violations
April 26th, 2006

Editorial: Why Worry about Global Warming?
April 21st, 2006

Editorial: The Purpose of Government?
March 23rd, 2006

Editorial: Air Boat Regatta, Guests or Pests?
January 29th, 2006

Editorial: The East-West Management Plan
December 21st, 2005

Editorial: Water, Water, Water
December 13th, 2005

Editorial: Bad News for Print News, Good for Online
November 14th, 2005

Editorial: A Bad Tradition
November 10th, 2005

Editorial: For the Birds
October 17th, 2005

Editorial: If It Killed the River....
October 4th, 2005

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Help Defend Us

Help Defend Us

Editorial

Freedom of the Press, which is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution, was foremost in the minds of the radical revolutionaries who wrote our most hallowed document. Thomas Jefferson said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Benjamin Franklin, a journalist, recognized the great value of a free press in keeping the government honest. Tom Paine, perhaps the most radical of our revolutionary leaders, used the press to build support for our independence from England.


In the past century publication of ideas and documents critical of government officials have generated attacks on the publishers of the facts. Fear of communism in the 1950`s, fanned by Senator Joe McCarthy, led to jailing and blacklisting of writers, actors and even songwriters. During the Viet Nam war those who spoke out against the war were investigated by the FBI. When the Pentagon Papers, the administration`s own negative analysis ofthe war, were published the press was vilified by the Nixon administration. When the Washington Post exposed the Watergate scandal, Nixon`s Attorney General John Mitchell threatened the Post`s owner with bodily harm. (The press reported Mitchell`s later conviction for obstruction of justice with great glee.)


We are in a new era of attack on the press. Fear ofterrorism has driven Attorney John Ashcroft to investigate the books we read. The almanac, which lists the locations of tall buildings, has been declared by Ashcroft to be a terrorist document. Hysteria abounds.


By using the press you can help defend freedom of the press. Use letters to the editor to advertise new ideas and firm convictions. Encourage press coverage based on the people`s right to know, not what is socially or politically acceptable to the government. Recognize that newspapers depend on advertising but must give the people`s right to know the highest priority.

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