The essential purpose of the Bill of Rights is to guarantee certain rights that the Founding Fathers deemed necessary to grant all citizens free. This makes it nearly impossible to take away these rights.
The First Amendment guarantees the right to a free press. To me, this ties hand in hand with freedom of speech. Journalists should be allowed to share exactly what they see and they feel about what occurred. Journalists get to see angles of things the average citizen does not, making their outlooks extra valuable.
As a journalist, we witnessed one of these rights nearly disappear. On Sept. 18, one of those promised first amendment rights was attacked. Trump refused to let Journalists from MSNOW, Politico, and CNN into the White House, leaving mostly neutral sources, or ones supportive of Trump. This exclusion of liberal sources I perceive as a real threat to constitutional rights.
But why is it important that these sources are reporting news from the White House? OH English teacher Abby Bartle explains, “It’s important that our America, like the public, has access to media from all different viewpoints so they can make their own opinions. They can form their own opinions without being told what their opinions should be.”
These three blocked news outlets are left-leaning, or, liberal-leaning sources. These sources are often critical of Trump. The President did not take kindly to criticisms of himself, choosing to deny these sources the right to report on his actions in the White House.
If journalism criticizing the current president was to be outlawed, you would not be reading this article right now.
“If the president believes the press is bashing him over “fake news” then he needs to call them out… with evidence. In my opinion, he just set a precedent for every president to remove the opposite [press platforms] from the Press room, ” OH Youth and Government and Club America member Liam Piechowski said.
The stark reality: Piechowski is likely right. President Trump is a figure who has, on multiple accounts, made attempts to erase typical traditions in American politics, including flirting with the idea of a third presidential term.
While these sources may consistently criticize the far right side of politics, that may be essential to keeping democracy in America. Bartle continued, “journalism acts like a watchdog in an American democracy, in our democracy. And it should hold people in power accountable, because it’s impractical that people, like everyday people, could go and ask questions to people in power or critique people in power.”
The criticism of those in power is a crucial factor to protecting the rights of all Americans, not just those sharing the same views as the sitting group. While people may deem these networks as ones that can be sensationalist, that argument is completely hypocritical when considering that the radical right-wing networks are allowed too. “I mean, Fox News lost a lawsuit for being entertainment, not a news source, right?” OH Social Studies teacher Cody Fleming said.
“[B]ut a lot of it’s perception also. So Donald Trump is saying essentially, you know, he doesn’t enjoy these outlets or what they’re saying about him. Then I guess it’s up to us as Americans to decide for ourselves.” Fleming continued. “Are they saying things because they’re attempting to report the truth? Or are they saying things because they’re trying to, you know, make a hit piece against Donald Trump? Where’s the line ended up?”
This line is a complicated point in American politics. How far is too far in media bias? Wherever the line should be drawn, we are all lucky to live in a nation where we have the ability to discuss this. But as to whether Trump’s move to hear strictly what he wants to hear is fair, In the words of Bartle, “I think it is a major threat to our First Amendment rights as Americans, our freedom of press, that any person in [a] position of power could take away our freedom of press. It’s unconstitutional.”
Hello there! I am Jonah McCoskey, and I am a junior at Oswego High School, located in Oswego, Illinois. This is my first year on the 42Fifty staff, and I am proud to call myself a Staff Reporter for this organization. I am also a member of the Cross Country (PDT) team, as well as a member of the Track team here at OHS. While this is my first year on the journalism team, I have a collection of previous English Credentials. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
