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Show HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS What is a free press? By Erma Jean Lee "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, and the sheep thanks him, but the wolf denounces him for destroying his liberty." Abraham Lincoln, PETER'S QUOTATIONS. "Liberty is the one thing you can't have unless you give it to others." William A. White, ibid. "Liberty is always dangerous, but it's the safest thing we have." Harry E. Fosdic, ibid. A free press is the active voice of an aware, growing community. It exudes the heartbeat of strength or weakness. It shows the good humor and health of a sound or unsound area. It reports the doings of the 'sheep' and the 'wolves', as well as all the other human beines of the society creatively, actively, and with good sportsmanship. Free, according to Webster, means "not subject to an arbitrary extenal power; independent; not obligated as a slave or serf to outer authority; having free agency or will; having no trade restrictions in commercial purpose; politically independent..." A free press, then, is not subject to expernal power or control. A muffled press is obligated to external authority. Free speech in light or sound is fleeting, but the printed word is solid enough so that readers can peruse or v discern it at their leisure, and therefore find the value in it for them. A free press does not harass or threaten readers with punishment or ostracism if they complain or use competing products. A muffled press stifles opposite opinions and calls . competitors evil, of the enemy, or conspiracy; this means tyranny, oppression, op-pression, free discussion, or manipulation by a. the establishment, or b. a competing 'exterman authority.' A free press has no need for name-, name-, calling, but the muffled press powers need whatever will gain their ends. A free press tries to compose a balance of news, varied articles, let-' ters-to-the-editor, creative special interests or commercial concerns. A . muffled press requires information or propaganda that will mold and promote emotional action in readers. The free press checks out expressed materials for facts, competent authorities, and reliable sources. The muffled press tends to suppress contrary con-trary opinion helpful to readers and slants facts toward specialized goals. The free press is secure in honest freedom. The muffled press, like the wolf at the sheep's throat, feels that free speech may bring on a shepherd who will destroy the 'wolf's' liberty. Honest expression follows honest thought, and thinking 'sheep' cannot be lecTby false propaganaa. A press, then, which treats its readers like children who cannot know their own minds will thwart or destroy its ultimate purpose. Why? Because sincere people seeking honest answers to their questions will eventually get tired of contrived, evasive replies. "...free speech in the end harms no one.," White is quoted by Pickett as saying in "Our Freedom Safeguards Your Freedom." "In the case of Mr. Debs, the good his speech does and the harm it does depends entirely upon the amount of truth there is in it. The error in it ultimately poisons the whole speech. It is true of the propaganda of every movement or cause, political, commercial or religious. Error poisons itself; its triumph is short-lived." John Stuart Mill said: "We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring en-deavoring to stifle is false opinion, and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still." A free press knows that the reality of good and truth enhances an alert community, while the unreality of evil-error evil-error viewed in its proper perspective is destroyed in the clearly focused eyes of concerned citizens. Such a press,, then, is bound only by priority, ethical responsibility to aware people, and respect for the lawful rights and freedom of expression in a free nation. ' By presenting fairly the facts and information, in-formation, discerning individuals sort . out the dimensions of their own truth or error as they see it in their own being. . A free press, like a free person, keeps open the window of its 'soul' and enlightens the 'world' with new and honest feelings, and joyous liberty in the pursuit of knowledge and news. "E pluribus unum." NOTE: The chips fall where they may in these essays, but I later go back and 'eat' those which apply to me. EJL. |