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Editorial: Guest Editorial: A Native`s Case for Florida Hometown Democracy
October 3rd, 2009

Editorial: Budget of Sugarcreek Goes Modern
October 1st, 2009

Editorial: Is Nothing Sacred?
September 17th, 2009

Editorial: Great Expectations
September 2nd, 2009

Editorial: Helping the Levy County Budget
August 6th, 2009

Editorial: WUFT-FM to Delete Music for Cedar Key
July 28th, 2009

Editorial: Governor Crist Balks on Appointment
July 9th, 2009

Editorial: Affordable Housing in Cedar Key
July 6th, 2009

Editorial: The Greening of Cedar Key
June 25th, 2009

Editorial: Unanimous Consent to Suspend the Rules
June 12th, 2009

Editorial: Cutting the Cost of Garbage Collection
May 27th, 2009

Editorial: America Must Support Chinese Democracy Seekers
March 23rd, 2009

Editorial: Membership Appeal
February 20th, 2009

Editorial: Cutting Health Care Costs
January 10th, 2009

Editorial: 2008 and Some Fearless Predictions
December 30th, 2008

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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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