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Editorial: Air Boats and the Golden Rule
February 2nd, 2004

Editorial: A Year of Opportunity
January 24th, 2004

Editorial: Sports on TV
January 15th, 2004

Editorial: Mad Cow Disease in the US
December 26th, 2003

Editorial: Jeb`s Water War
November 25th, 2003

Editorial: Citizen Input Needed
October 27th, 2003

Editorial: Congrats to Our Commission, Now We Must Help
October 17th, 2003

Editorial: Remember Owens Valley
September 29th, 2003

Editorial: Gold Plating Reality, Reconstruction Chic
September 21st, 2003

Editorial: The Responsiblities of a Journalist
August 27th, 2003

Editorial: A Fable: The Great Guano Concord
July 24th, 2003

Editorial: Music for Children
May 26th, 2003

Editorial: Speak Out
May 15th, 2003

Editorial: Parking: Our Biggest Problem?
May 2nd, 2003

Editorial: Vote and Vote Well
April 22nd, 2003

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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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