An enemy of the people

By Ansley Skipper

If speaking truth to power is treason, count me as a traitor first.

In August, President Trump called the news media an “enemy of the people” for their perceived disdain for — or, at the least, questioning of — the president. Contempt for the press, while not new to public discourse, is more widely accepted than ever. Not to mention that in criticizing and feeling threatened by a free press, Trump joins the likes of Hitler, Lenin and Napoleon — a concerning group for an American president to join — and borrows a term in “enemy of the people” that would have carried a death sentence for someone accused of being such in Stalinist Russia.

In the earliest days of our Republic, the majority-holding Federalist Party aimed to censor their Jeffersonian Republican rivals by passing the Sedition Act of 1798, under which 10 Republican journalists were convicted and imprisoned. In that period, journalism was openly partisan, a paper was either a Republican paper or a Federalist paper, an openness about bias which might be helpful today, but that allowed Federalists to easily target and silence dissenters, particularly those who criticized President John Adams.

Fast forward about 100 years to the World War I era, and this idea pops up again: the Sedition Act of 1918. See, the Supreme Court never struck down the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 in the first place; the acts simply expired, offering precedent for these new First Amendment-threatening laws. It is estimated that around 2,000 people were prosecuted using either the Espionage Act of 1917 or the Sedition Act of 1918, which, specifically, made dissenting speech criminal under the guise of national strength and security in a time of war.

The first freedoms lost in societies are often those seen most threatening by the ruling class. It is the nature of power — particularly weak power — to fear threats, and journalism is often seen as such a threat.

That’s because good journalism is a check on authority. Reporting the facts, as they are, without bias, is a simple way to provide members of a community with enough information to make decisions for themselves. And as much as I love opinions writing, good news journalism should also be persuasive. Woodward and Bernstein didn’t encourage Congress to impeach President Nixon when they broke the Watergate story; they simply reported the facts. The American people and, eventually, Congress took that information and used it as they saw fit, but Watergate shows that journalists have a unique advantage as private citizens to investigate and report in a way that can be more effective than even government investigation or reporting.

Strong principles withstand questioning, and weak principles are reformed and refined by questioning. This idea dates to Socrates, a Greek philosopher known for responding only in questions to test and strengthen the logic of the original questioner or debater. In the words of President Thomas Jefferson, “… Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”

The laws of nature and natural selection work with ideas, too. False or radical opinions can be held in a society where logic, reason and facts can be used to debate them. The opinion which survives the debate is the strongest. That is the essence of the America our Founding Fathers built. This idea of mutualism and separation of powers relies on a free press. The three branches of government check each other, certainly, but how can the people check the government when there are 300 million distinct voices to be heard?

The press. The press is our mouthpiece and our cheerleader. The press is sent into a room to ask the questions we would want answered if we were there. They are our fact-finders and our Spark Notes on daily life.

A free press strengthens good ideas and makes bad ideas better. It pushes people to action without forcing them to do so. It opens conversations and exposes error. It sheds light on the people making change behind the scenes and shares good news with the world. It gives a voice to the marginalized, the forgotten and the disenfranchised. It is a place where we all should have an equal seat.

Ironically, Trump’s harsh rhetoric on this profession has backfired. According to a thoughtful piece by Adam Harris from The Atlantic, more students are interested in journalism than ever, and this is a common theme throughout history.

Our fundamental American rights are never that far from extinction. President Reagan said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

That’s why my generation should be in training. That’s why student journalism is more important than ever. Free press faces a serious threat, stemming mostly from the lack of respect of the American people at large for the ways it benefits them daily. We must change public perception of the media. That’s up to us, Millennials and Gen Z-ers. Get ready. We’re up next on the front line of this fight.

Bottom line: Journalism matters. And it goes over my dead body.

So, I will act and speak and, most of all, write. And as for right now, my mantra as a writer and a citizen is Tatler’s mission statement:

Tatler is a student-run newspaper that trains writers to be responsible journalists and productive citizens in a democratic society through informing and engaging the student body in both global issues and shared community stories.