Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [Source]
The reason the founding fathers put the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press into the constitution was that it was important for the people of a democratic republic to know what was going on in our nation and our world. If the people do not know what is happening around them they can be lied to and deceived into taking actions that go against their beliefs and interests.
While this clearly applies to the government there is an implied request for the press to act as an unbiased fourth "branch", if you will, to the government that imposes checks and balances through shedding light on the actions of the government. To do this requires that the press, now more often referred to as the media present the reality of our nation and world in a clear and honest way so we the people can make good decisions.
Freedom of speech and the press requires that there not be regulation. Therefore the media is solely bound by honor to report the truth for us.
That honor is dead.
Yesterday I came across this article by NPR. In it they tracked down a guy who runs a number of websites that explicitly peddle fake news. Not just exaggerations, but made up from whole cloth lies. The fact that this exists is deeply disturbing for the stability of our republic. The media in general throws so much bias and exaggeration into their reporting that it often is useless for knowing the truth, and the fact that truly fake news is increasingly being made makes any news suspect.
The American people do not have sources of truth free of most bias and deceit. If we are blind then we are open to oppression, manipulation, and those who want to spread discord.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in a very dangerous place, and the largest media organizations are largely to blame. They took the easy wrong of sensationalization and quick clicks over the hard right of maintaining honor and honesty.
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