Freedom From The Press

     Freedom of the press was so important to our nation's founding fathers that they included it in the first amendment. A free press was to be part of our government's accountability to the people. But having the right to report news without government coercion did not mean newspapers were unbiased. Many Americans fear we are more divided as a nation than at any time in our history. I believe that is because we are either forgetful or egocentric enough to believe all important events happen in our own lifetime. For instance, during the Civil War our nation was divided not only ideologically, but geographically. And there was not just random rioting, but organized battles and casualties unimaginable by today's standards. About half of all Americans who have died in all wars so far, died in the Civil War. At least 620,000. 

     Until the 19th century, American newspapers did not even pretend to be unbiased. One of the most famous examples of this Yellow journalism, was William Randolph Hearst's quote to his reporter before the Spanish American War, "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." And the move away from partisan papers was not motivated by fairness, but finances. Partisanship limited readership which also limited which businesses were willing to advertise in those newspapers. The rise of news and commentary reporting was also motivated by money. Offering opinion is much cheaper than research and embedding reporters where events are happening. (My research for this post was free, but annoyingly time consuming.) And during times of war, the freedom of the press was limited to what the military leaders decided to leave unclassified.

     I think during my childhood there was at least a nominal commitment to fair, unbiased reporting, but I was too young to evaluate news at the time. By the time I was a teenager, the Vietnam War era, I already knew the media was manipulating the message. News reporting returned to its agenda, not to inform, but to influence. However, the harm was limited to daily newspapers and three servings of TV and radio news per day. 

     I blame the current division, not just on the greater availability of advertisers, but on the 24 hour availability of news that either makes us mad or reinforces our need to be right. Our press is free from outright government coercion, but not from the bribery of advertisers and biases of owners and editors. But we have the power to free ourselves from these televised tyrants. Much of what we call news is what the Bible calls "endless speculations" (1 Tim. 1:4) The contrast is not between being informed or ignorant, it is in choosing what to fill our minds with. If what I am hearing causes me to lose faith in God's sovereignty, it is sin (Rom. 14:23), at least for me. Personally, I find it impossible to fill my mind with whatever is true, noble, right, pure, etc. (Phil 4:8), when my brain is on the news channel.

    In conclusion (at long last!), I do not believe our nation is more divided now than ever before. And I believe we have the power to diminish the division if we are willing to exercise our freedom from the press. That includes this preachy, pedantic post which reads like a school essay assignment. But I wasted too much time on it, not to publish it.