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Show THE PRESS MUST BE FREE On September 2nd the Utah Press Association, Inc. went into court to obtain ob-tain a judgment against a company who had not paid for advertising placed through UPA offices in Utah's community weekly newspaper's. Prior to the proceedings, the judge informally asked the clerk to identify the litigants in the next case. When told that the plaintiff was the Utah Press, he mumbled audibly, "I don't know that I want to do anything for the press. They are always making a fuss about everyone else's mistakes, but they're never wrong. No sir, they're always perfect." That attitude Is just right. The press must be aggressive enough to make a judge feel that he is being watched by imperfect people. He needs to be kept aware that his decisions and actions are exposed to the public, and his proceedings must be aa simple and as clear as possible to avoid misunderstanding. misunderstan-ding. In spite of the good intentions of a judge, observers may not all see the same facts in the same light. When one reporter gives an account that appears accurate ac-curate to him, the judge may have a different view. And a second reporter may have still another view. The litigants involved also have their own views. Who is to say which view is wrong? Anyone's understanding of what took place is colored by his prior experience and the perspective of his involvement. A reporter has the obligation to report the situation as a representative of the public not as a judge or as a litigant. The story filed by one reporter has to be accurate because other reporters, the public who attended, and the court officers of-ficers will discredit him if he is obviously wrong. In other words, the freedom to report requires reporting the truth. The mere fact that a judge and a reporter do not see the same things the same way underlines the necessity for freedom of speech and of the press. Each must be allowed to express what he believes to be true. And where several voices are allowed to speak, the public gets a more complete understanding under-standing of what actually took place. Freedom of the press also means that anyone can start his own newspaper, newsletter, magazine, or whatever. Broadcast media are still licensed by an agency of the federal government and have a limited freedom of entry into the industry and content of their programming. If this freedom to report, freedom to enter the industry, or freedom to witness wit-ness the activities of government is ever restricted, we will then lose our freedom to know the truth, As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Freeedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals fundamen-tals of democracy, and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged." May judges, mayors, sheriffs, school board members, county commissioners, com-missioners, presidents, senators, and every government official feel the uneasy pressure of an observing, imperfect public whenever a reporter is present. By J. LeRoy Yorgason |