Defending an Independent Press

ONE SPACE WHERE I find rest, amid the noise of living and working in Washington, D.C., sits directly in the heart of the hustle: the Newseum, dedicated to the defense of Amendment 1 to the U.S. Constitution.

It may be an odd choice, since it exhibits the front page of 60 newspapers each morning, each listing the harrowing headlines I’m trying to escape. But in this space, dedicated to education on our First Amendment freedoms, I find special solace.

Etched on a large window overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol are these words: “Freedom of Press Speech Religion.”

There is not much breathing room between those freedoms inherent to all Americans, nor between those listed separately: freedom of assembly and petition.

It’s a well-placed reminder about freedoms many Americans take for granted. In 2016, 39 percent of Americans could not name a single one of them. Fifty-four percent could name freedom of speech, but only 17 percent and 11 percent could name freedom of religion and freedom of the press, respectively.

When freedoms don’t “feel” threatened, it’s easy to take them for granted.

Enter 2017. Already this year, we’ve experienced attacks on the freedom of religion as evidenced by the surge in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic attacks and the Trump administration’s failure to mention Jews or anti-Semitism in its Holocaust Remembrance Day statement (a stark departure from the previous six administrations). We’ve seen lawyers spill pro bono hours in airports defending the freedom of religion by enforcing legal protections for international travelers in the face of what appeared to be a “religious test” for entering the country.

People of faith across the U.S. and across party lines rightly have been outraged at potential infringement of religious liberty under the Trump administration.

But where is the moral response to the intentional destabilizing of an independent press? Don’t we understand that religious liberty and freedom of the press go hand in hand in the Constitution?

AT ITS CORE, freedom of the press is established to hold governmental powers accountable to the citizens. This is why it’s referred to as the “fourth estate.” It provides checks and balances on the other three powers: the president, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

Much like free practice of religion within our borders, freedom of the press is indifferent to power structures. In fact, a robust press is a direct challenge to power, both friendly and hostile, and it was intended to be.

James Madison, known for his pivotal role in shaping the Constitution, put it this way:

“A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

Because of this, I’m less concerned with whether or not the Trump administration boots the White House press corps out of the James Brady Press Briefing Room to a site half a block away. Some of the best journalism can happen outside sanctioned access and the sound bites delivered by Sean Spicer.

Propaganda, however, does concern me. The intentional spreading of allegations or misconstrued facts to further one’s own cause or to damage an opposing cause, especially in pursuit of political power, is always dangerous and reduces peoples’ ability for self-governance.

As Christians we are committed by our faith to tell the truth, to reject falsehoods or lies, and to avoid speaking unjustly against our neighbor. When Christians lose the ability to discern between fact-based reporting and fringe opinion, there is grave spiritual danger. Extreme headlines shared quickly without regard to truth is tantamount to spreading rumors. Scripture provides plenty of warning here: “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark” (James 3:5).

Both Christians and journalists are called to be rigorous in seeking truth, speaking truth, and practicing truth—which is one reason those words are pressed together on the Newseum window: “Freedom of Press Speech Religion.”