Be Careful of Government Overreach with the First Amendment
I am a big believer in the First Amendment to the Constitution. In it, it states the following:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, evolved as a compromise to formally pass the body of the United States Constitution into existence. Many more individualistic revolutionaries wanted protections for free speech, assembly, and religion—but the framers were trying to get the original constitution completed quickly. To get formal approval of the Constitution passed, those original authors ensured the passing of this amendment, and the other nine, shortly after the states formally approved our Constitution.
While there are various critical aspects to the First Amendment, the one I am finding great concern about is relating to the concept of freedom of speech, and thus of the press. In the last several years, there have been several stories where press freedoms seem to be impinged upon, grossly.
Press members were arrested or detained while reporting in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Berkley (Courts repeatedly ruled in favor of the media)
A newspaper office in Kansas is raided by law enforcement and all computers and electronic files are taken (Lawsuit pending)
The White House denies press credentials to various members of the press (lawsuit pending)
Iowa state government refusing to release public documents (court ruled in favor of the media)
Denver Public Schools refuses to release executive session conversations to the press (court ruled in favor of the media)
As someone who loved law school, and in particular, the two semesters I took of constitutional law, I've always believed that the cornerstone of a righteous government is an independent and thoroughly engaged media. The media are the ones who dig when things don't look right. The media are the ones who discover things that happen behind closed doors and report them to the general public. The media, for the most part, should keep the government honest. I won’t argue here that sometimes the media gets it wrong with slated coverage.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with the Watergate affair are the primary examples of when the media is at its best.
There appear to be more and more examples of either government reluctance or government intrusion into the media doing its job. The positive is that the courts seem pretty consistent in siding with First Amendment rights, and the media. The bad news is that it's taking court action, in the end, to keep the First Amendment alive and well.
