Freedom of the Press:
The right of the press to circulate information and opinion without censorship by the government.
While watching coverage of this week’s Republican National Convention, I switched between CNN, ABC, FOX-News, CBS and others. I read news articles online and in print, and watched live streaming from different sources online.
And I was struck by how one event could be seen so differently by so many news organizations — nearly all of which had a clear slant, whether for or against.
Our founding fathers made Freedom of the Press part of the Constitution’s First Amendment because, in the words of its principle author James Madison:
“We have no Facebook yet.”
And because I’m a journalist, you can trust me on that.