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Editorial: Sign Thefts - Fear of the Opposition?
October 14th, 2004

Editorial: Police Arrested a Person
October 7th, 2004

Editorial: Korean Cloud on the Horizon
September 14th, 2004

Editorial: Moratorium Battle Heats Up
August 30th, 2004

Editorial: Orders From the Top
August 12th, 2004

Editorial: On the Value of Art
July 14th, 2004

Editorial: Of Voles and Men
June 24th, 2004

Editorial: Clam Poaching, are We Number One?
June 4th, 2004

Editorial: Leadership Overcomes Flawed Process in Missile Range Decision
May 10th, 2004

Editorial: Bomb Range Inn
April 25th, 2004

Editorial: Is the President Above the Law?
April 8th, 2004

Editorial: The "Good Old Days"
March 15th, 2004

Editorial: Access to Public Records
March 1st, 2004

Editorial: Sunset Park: A Reality?
February 23rd, 2004

Editorial: The "Tree Ordinance"
February 9th, 2004

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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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