Running head: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Freedom of the Press

Hailey David

Salt Lake Community College

Running head: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment which was adopted on

December 15th, 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights (History, 2017). The ideals for free press

were first published in Cato’s Letters. The letters were essays written by John Trenchard

and Thomas Gordon that criticized British politics. They were first published under the

pseudonym of Cato sometime in the 1720’s. Letter fifteen contained the quote “Freedom

of speech is the great bulwark of liberty; they prosper and die together.” (G. Galles, 2003).

The definition of bulwark according to Merriam-Webster is “something that provides

protection for or against something.” In other words, the writers of Cato’s letters believed

that freedom of speech protected liberty which we’ll explore more in this paper.

Perhaps the biggest pro of freedom of press is keeping the government in check

North Korea is a great example of this. In North Korea, “all reporting that is not

sanctioned by the government is subject to severe restrictions in practice.” (Freedom,

2016). In North Korea, listening to “unauthorized foreign broadcasts” actually carries the

punishment of hard labor, a prison sentence, or even the death penalty. North Korea is so

determined to prevent their citizens from hearing other sources of news that they’re

willing to kill their own people over it. It makes you question what they are trying to hide.

As outsiders, many of us know very well that North Korea routinely lies to it’s citizens.

If we were to follow in North Korea’s footsteps and only allow Americans to listen

to government-controlled news stations, we could very well be in the same place. Every

American president would have appreciated only being able to share their version of the

news. They wouldn’t have to worry about speculations of their actions because it simply

wouldn’t be allowed. We wouldn’t know the entire truth about what happens in our own
Running head: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

country’s borders. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black said, "The press was to serve

the governed, not the governors." (K. Finch, 2017).

President Donald Trump has coined the term “fake news”. He particularly enjoys

using the term when a news story comes out that doesn’t work in his favor. I see the term

“fake news” all the time in the comment sections of news stations. These comments are

usually left by people that seem to report Donald Trump. The funny thing is, I see these

comments on reputable news sources such as CNN and Fox. If we were to get rid of

freedom of the press this would become even more prevalent. Reporters wouldn’t be able

to ever say anything bad about President Trump and a lot of his actions wouldn’t be made

public because he simply wouldn’t want us to know about it. Giving this type of control to

the government is just a bad idea, no matter who is President. We need to know the whole

truth, both sides of the argument and not just what our government wants us to hear.

Another positive part of freedom of the press is it allows us to make our own

decisions. If our news sources were controlled by the government, we would have very

biased elections. For example, President Obama did not support Donald Trump when he

was running for president. If President Obama had control of the press he could have

made sure only the bad information about Donald Trump was made available while only

show casing the good of Hillary Clinton. Because of freedom of the press we were able to

hear the good and bad of not just those two candidates but also of other, third party

candidates. We were able to weigh our options and ultimately elected the candidate that

the majority of the country supported. Using North Korea as an example again, they

certainly don’t get to vote and choose the leader of their country, but they also don’t get to

hear the cons of Kim Jong Un or their past leaders.

Running head: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Freedom of the press not only makes the actions of political candidates public, but

it also holds them accountable for their actions. Because of freedom of press we were able

to learn about the actions of Anthony Weiner and prevent him from becoming more

involved in our government. We were able to impeach eight of our presidents and hold

them accountable for harming our country. We should be able to know all about our

country as possible and we simply wouldn’t have that if we didn’t have freedom of the

press.

Whistle Blowers are another example of our government being unable to hide

secrets. Do you think North Korea has whistle blowers that leak government secrets to

their press? No, because even if a whistle blower were to leak information the government

would be able to prevent that information from becoming public. In our government we

have had people expose secrets of the government for worse or for better. It gives us a

sense of transparency, that not everything is how it seems. It’s less likely for our

government to cover up wrong doings. Even the tragedy of 9/11, while we have no

definitive proof if it was Osama Bin Laden, another terrorist group, or even our own

president that initiated the attack, we have the ability to speculate and gather evidence and

decide for ourselves who we believe. If our government did attack those people, we have

the opportunity to learn about it and prevent it from happening again. It’s a luxury that

many other people don’t have. North Korea isn’t able to impeach its leader or make

decisions to keep it’s citizens safer. They are led to believe everything they’re told

because they don’t have any other option, they don’t have any other sources of

information and until they do they are stuck where they are.
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Freedom of the press allows us to see the pros and cons of everything, not just our

own government. Tobacco and drug companies can promote their products nearly

however they want but we can also learn about why smoking cigarettes or taking narcotics

are bad for us. We can choose how we want to live rather than being told. Not only can I

choose if I want to smoke but also what I want to smoke. Nowadays there are different

brands of cigarettes, vapes, and even different strains of marijuana. I can learn as much

about these substances as possible. Even though these substances can be harmful, I have

the opportunity to decide that for myself.

According to Ted.com, The United States ranks number 43 out of 180 countries on

the World Press Freedom Index. We may think we have a free press but there are 42

countries ahead of us including Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica and several other third

world countries. There are also 137 countries with worse press freedom than us. While we

have a long way to go we are very lucky to have the freedoms that we do have. Syria is

ranked 177, Iran is 165, and North Korea is 180. We’ve had major conflicts with these

three countries. Imagine how much information about them we have compared to their

own citizens? We should consider ourselves lucky to be able to hold our government

accountable and make our own decisions. It’s something many of us take for granted but

it’s an important part of our life. There are still many countries out there who are

punished, even by death, just for speaking their mind and giving their own opinion. There

are places in this world where even this paper wouldn’t be allowed. We should be grateful

to even be able to have this debate because it’s something many people in this world are

still fighting to achieve. It’s an important part of our life, without freedom of the press

would we really be free?

 Running head: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Sources

2017 World Press Freedom Index | Reporters Without Borders. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://rsf.org/en/ranking

Bulwark. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bulwark

Bulwark. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bulwark

K. (2003, October 20). Cato's Letters on Liberty and Property | Gary Galles. Retrieved from

https://mises.org/library/catos-letters-liberty-and-property

Freedom of speech. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://quotes.yourdictionary.com/author/quote/586719

History.com Staff. (2017). Freedom of the Press. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/freedom-of-the-press

History.com Staff. (2017). Impeachment. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/impeachment-in-us-history

North Korea. (2016, December 01). Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-

press/2016/north-korea

Why freedom of the press is more important now than ever. (2017, August 18). Retrieved from

https://ideas.ted.com/why-freedom-of-the-press-is-more-important-now-than-ever/