Freedom of the Press

Let me say again and again. The first order of a totalitarian leader is to silence the press. The press, the media is not the enemy of America. The mainstream press, probably more than any other organization or individual sees itself as a bulwark against the usurpation of rights, as a checker of the facts and as a sacred responsibility to speak truth to power.

If you as an American do not uphold the constitutional tenant of “freedom of the Press,” you know not your history or the honored responsibilities of the press.

Yes, there will be prejudicial reporting. Yes, there will be stories written without full fact checking. Yes, there will be individual bias in some reports, yes, there will be mistakes, but for the most part, the press, the mainstream media, will be as accurate as journalistic diligence can be. Attacking them as “fake” or “hating America” is dictatorial rhetoric diminishing the long and rightful traditions of the first amendment.

Mr. Trump’s diatribe against the press is pandering to his myopic base and lying to the rest of discerning citizens.

Beware, my friends, this is serious stuff with serious consequences. Ignore it at your peril, and your children’s children may never know what truth is.