The guardians of the republicThe Death of Journalism
When I was a young college student during the turbulent decade of the 1970’s, all of the budding Journalism students were panting for a chance to cover a major story like the one dominating the front pages of the time: The Watergate scandal.
We all thought that Pulitzer Prizes were out there waiting for reporters dedicated enough to ferret out the major stories and bring them to press. “Politicians haven’t changed in 2000 years,” one professor was fond of saying, ”they will provide you plenty of material that’ll get you to the front page.”
Journalism students of the day considered the profession a noble one, a profession that had always been prominent in safeguarding our republic. The Founders of our country considered an active and inquisitive press so vital to the maintenance of our republic that they included freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
During the Constitution’s ratification process, the Philadelphia Freeman’s Journal wrote, “As long as the liberty of the press continues un-violated, and the people have the right of expressing and publishing their sentiments upon every public measure, it is next to impossible to enslave a free nation.”
And yet the arrival of the Obama Administration has led to the death of journalism in the United States. The American press has shamelessly affiliated itself with the success of the new president, and has completely turned its back on bringing the facts to the American people. With the wealth of crucial issues facing the republic, such as the economy, health care, climate change legislation, to say nothing of a war on terrorists world-wide, the American press has become a rhetorical cheering section for this administration.
The press could be researching the proposed legislation on the government take-over of health care, advising the people exactly how such a proposal could ever lower health care costs when no government program has ever reduced the cost of anything. They could be delving into the bill to determine just how the government will serve millions upon millions of new patients that will flood medical facilities when the services there become “free.” They could be attempting to describe how these new millions will receive service without the need to institute medical health care rationing for us all.
Likewise, the press could be reporting on whether the government health care will lead to halting medical treatment for the elderly in an effort to make the suddenly scarce resources available to young people who have, after all, longer to live. The press could be reporting stories about the government-sponsored medical plans in Europe or Canada, to give us an idea about what we have to expect with our own plan. They could be reporting human interst stories on the unfortunate people who die before getting treatment for diseases they could be treated here for tomorrow.
Instead, the American press has chosen to abrogate its Constitutionally-protected duty to inform the American people. While they could not control their glee at hammering George W. Bush at every turn, they are so invested in this president they are totally incapable of effective Journalism. The sycophants of the American press corps think they will have a seat at the table of power as a reward for their “loyalty” to Mr Obama. They should study history to learn who the first people to lose their heads are when totalitarians achieve total power. It’ll be them.
Journalism students of the day considered the profession a noble one, a profession that had always been prominent in safeguarding our republic. The Founders of our country considered an active and inquisitive press so vital to the maintenance of our republic that they included freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
During the Constitution’s ratification process, the Philadelphia Freeman’s Journal wrote, “As long as the liberty of the press continues un-violated, and the people have the right of expressing and publishing their sentiments upon every public measure, it is next to impossible to enslave a free nation.”
And yet the arrival of the Obama Administration has led to the death of journalism in the United States. The American press has shamelessly affiliated itself with the success of the new president, and has completely turned its back on bringing the facts to the American people. With the wealth of crucial issues facing the republic, such as the economy, health care, climate change legislation, to say nothing of a war on terrorists world-wide, the American press has become a rhetorical cheering section for this administration.
The press could be researching the proposed legislation on the government take-over of health care, advising the people exactly how such a proposal could ever lower health care costs when no government program has ever reduced the cost of anything. They could be delving into the bill to determine just how the government will serve millions upon millions of new patients that will flood medical facilities when the services there become “free.” They could be attempting to describe how these new millions will receive service without the need to institute medical health care rationing for us all.
Likewise, the press could be reporting on whether the government health care will lead to halting medical treatment for the elderly in an effort to make the suddenly scarce resources available to young people who have, after all, longer to live. The press could be reporting stories about the government-sponsored medical plans in Europe or Canada, to give us an idea about what we have to expect with our own plan. They could be reporting human interst stories on the unfortunate people who die before getting treatment for diseases they could be treated here for tomorrow.
Instead, the American press has chosen to abrogate its Constitutionally-protected duty to inform the American people. While they could not control their glee at hammering George W. Bush at every turn, they are so invested in this president they are totally incapable of effective Journalism. The sycophants of the American press corps think they will have a seat at the table of power as a reward for their “loyalty” to Mr Obama. They should study history to learn who the first people to lose their heads are when totalitarians achieve total power. It’ll be them.
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