People take pride in press freedom. But truth be told, our freedom to the press is under attack. Attacked in a way that the truth in the press is somehow associated with “Fake news” and threats to journalist and leakers with lawsuits.
But, why?
When we only write to tell people the truth.
When we only give headlines, to tell the truth.
When we only give a news update, to tell the truth.
Indeed, there are a lot of outlets for people to express their freedom to spread and broadcast news. We have internet, websites and social media channels. Aside from the newspapers which seemed to become more bias these days because of a few organizations disbandment on them. It becomes more filtered and scripted than compared to free online news.
But today, let’s not argue about that. Let us find out why freedom of the press is important. Why does it really matter?
Protection of Rights
For us to be able to protect our rights, we also must know and understand our rights.
The First Amendment Protects the Media
The government cannot punish you for your views, thoughts, or words, even if they’re unpopular save for very narrow limits. But we the people can say what we think—and the press can perform its essential role: To agitate, investigate, and scrutinize our leaders and institutions. That freedom is the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship.
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