Media are not the enemy of the people; a free press is critical to democracy

Today the Des Moines Register joins more than 400 newspapers in standing up against attacks on media, the cornerstone of an informed democracy

The Register's editorial

No one who works in media can defend everything that passes for “news” in this country today. We recognize it can be painfully off-track. It can be biased. Reporters sometimes make mistakes. 

President Donald Trump visited with eastern Iowa community leaders on Thursday, July 26, 2018, during a round table discussion at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta.

But the press is not the enemy of the people. Its primary goal is to provide information to the public and provide a check on all three branches of government. This is critical in a democracy.  

Reporting on growing federal deficits, climate change, disasters, voting records of lawmakers, government spending, immigration and numerous other important and controversial issues every day is not “fake news.”

Neither is reporting on a county board funneling money to private schools, the impact of Medicaid privatization in Iowa or the effects of tariffs on Iowa farmers and livestock producers, or providing information people need to recover from floods and tornadoes, all covered by Register journalists in recent months.

And neither is the coverage of schools, libraries, courts and city councils provided by the nearly 300 other daily and weekly newspapers that make up the Iowa Newspaper Association or by broadcast journalists across Iowa.

MANNY GARCIA:What our investigative journalists expose isn’t fake news

On Aug. 16, 2018, editorial pages across the country are responding to attacks on the press. The Boston Globe reached out to newspapers seeking a “coordinated response” to those “bent on eroding a pillar of an informed democracy.” The Des Moines Register proudly joins more than 400 other publications in speaking up. 

A free press, which is rightly protected by the First Amendment, is the cornerstone of a truly free country. Leaders throughout history have recognized this. 

“The freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter,” George Washington said. 

“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state,” John Adams said. 

In December 1962, President John F. Kennedy sat down for an interview with NBC News. He was frustrated by coverage about the Bay of Pigs, a failed plan to overthrow Cuba’s government. Though Kennedy recognized “not agreeable news” caused presidents angst, he understood a free press is what separates a democracy from a dictatorship.

“I would say it’s an invaluable arm of the presidency as a check, really, on what’s going on in an administration. And more things come to my attention that cause me concern or give me information,” he said. 

Contrast those statements with comments and tweets from President Donald Trump. 

Lesley Stahl, the Emmy award-winning “60 Minutes” correspondent, recently talked about her November 2016 interview with the current president — his first after winning the election. She asked him if he planned to stop attacking the press, something he did repeatedly during his campaign.

“He said, 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you,'” Stahl said. 

Take a moment to let the implications of that statement soak in. 

Trump portrays news stories he doesn’t like as “fake.” He calls journalists “dishonest.” He has referred to media in tweets as an “enemy of the people" and "very dangerous & sick." 

It is not the role of news reporters to abandon objectivity and respond in kind when they are attacked. But it is imperative for those of us who value the First Amendment to point out that this type of rhetoric puts at risk journalists — and democracy itself. 

Weeks after a gunman stormed into a Maryland newsroom in June and killed five employees of the Capital Gazette, people at a Trump rally in Florida were enthusiastically raising their middle fingers to reporters, including CNN’s Jim Acosta. A camera captured the worked-up crowd booing, yelling and gesturing. One man wore an “F- the media” T-shirt.

Unfortunately, too many elected officials are unwilling to dissent.

A Des Moines Register reporter recently asked Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds if she agreed with Trump’s characterization of the media. Reynolds did not offer an opinion about whether she believed news organizations to be the “enemy.” 

The true enemies of the people — and democracy — are those who try to suffocate truth by vilifying and demonizing the messenger. 

The response to that cannot be silence.