By Morf Morford

Tacoma Daily Index

A free press is a basic element of a free society.

Whether the press is, or was ever, appreciated, valued or respected, or even if they did their duty fully and fairly, the press has always been an essential foundational institution key to a stable, fair and free society.

We just moved out from an administration that continually berated not only the press, but the duly noted duty and responsibility of the press.

The press should be no one’s mouthpiece, no one’s adoring fan base or bully pulpit. And certainly, no cheerleader section for a single individual, family or issue. No media empire can, in any era, afford to become its own suffocating echo chamber. And yet we saw all of these in the past few years.

In fact we saw, as never before in our nation’s history, attacks not only on the free press but on the entire idea of a free press.

A “free” press literally means free of control, obstruction or intervention from any aspect of the government.

The past few years have seen interference and hostility toward the press from government representatives like we have never seen in our nation’s history.

The irony of some avenues of the press becoming mouthpieces for select issues or candidates is that, even gushing and compromising adulation was not enough.

Like the drug of choice for a drug addict, even maximum, total submission is never enough.

And a submissive press, as too many cable network “news” organizations have learned to their chagrin, serves no one.

A free press stands up when no one else will. Or can.

No human king, or kingdom, or even political ideology lasts forever.

A free press does not depend on polls or a shifting political climate or the winds of change.

The oxygen, the core nourishment, the very living foundation of a free press is, in fact, freedom to search, explore, expose, make connections and make sense of complex, often hidden dynamics of a situation or community.

And, almost by definition, the press will uncover and expose stories and connections that will not be “popular” or even acceptable. At least at first.

But “news” literally means information that is not yet known, new stories, new views and new understandings.

By any standard definition, “news” will be unwelcome, even unsettling.

And for those reasons, all the more essential.

Representatives of any form of government, democracy or dictatorship, conservative or liberal are aware of this inherent – and by definition, potentially undermining, power of a free press.

Those representatives may attempt to use it or thwart it, or even eliminate it, but any who would claim absolute power must contend with it in some way.

The first thing dictators do is finish free press, to establish censorship. There is no doubt that a free press is the first enemy of dictatorship. – Fidel Castro

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will. – Thomas Jefferson

The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people. – Hugo Black

A compliant press is no one’s ally, no one’s champion, and no one’s nemesis.

In fact history clearly shows that a compliant press has no reason to exist.

With no moral or even philosophical compass, no relentless search for the real and the true, a press has no purpose for being, no voice in the community.

The stakes, for all of us, are excruciatingly high. What we all, readers, citizens, political representatives and everyone else lose when we lose a free press is beyond imagining.

When propaganda and bland lies become the standard fodder of press or media, our minds and opinions, and, in a democracy at least, our political power becomes mush at the behest of manipulators who play on distractions and our deepest fears as we vote for even more manipulative and exploitative leaders.

We in America, once called “the first new nation,” should know better than most, that a free society needs a free press, even when, or maybe even especially when, we don’t want it.

We need it most when those we depend upon let us down, when our institutions themselves cry out for reform and we, especially in America, fail to live up to our own ideals.

A free press is not always valued or even welcomed, but it is always essential.

As every autocratic state quickly learns, not every voice can be compromised or silenced forever.

A free press keeps us all free.

But as the old saying goes, “Freedom is never free” – but it is always worth paying for.

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Keeping local media alive

On a related note, Tacoma’s historically strong daily newspaper, The News Tribune, is going through some dramatic changes.

Once based downtown (between St. Helens and Opera Alley) and more recently based on State Street just off 19th, that grand building, once packed and buzzing with activity, has been empty for about a year. And is currently for sale.

Market forces, working remotely and shifting technologies have been lethal attacks on the business aspect of journalism.

Whether journalism, or even local news media by any platform, will survive these times is anyone’s guess.

But their loss is a loss to us all.

Even though The News Tribune and Tacoma Daily Index are, in a limited way, competitors, in many more ways we are companions along and through similar terrain and challenges.

Newspapers are vital in more ways than could even be mentioned. We need them, and they need us.

Newspapers, and “legacy” media are all important because they professionally filter and curate what can be difficult, if not contradictory, information.

I love “fringe” media, the blogs, memes and even the stray comments and sometimes (all too rarely) unexpected insights and personal experiences that put flesh and bones to the sometimes-abstract news media “objectivity.” But I always return to, and trust at a basic level, the much-derided “mainstream media.”

These are individuals and institutions who stake their livelihoods and continuing existence on getting things right.

Unlike memes or online comments, news organizations almost always correct – and apologize for – mistakes or errors.

Whatever our beliefs might be, we should all support local and national “legacy” media.

Without curated and verified information, we are adrift in a sloshing and shifting news landscape of memes and social media comments with no references, facts or solid ground anywhere.

A free society needs a free press, and a stable society needs a stable press.

Truth and transparency are always risky – especially on a local level.

But again, without truth and transparency – and press accountability – no society can survive, let alone flourish.

In short, support your local media. How else will you know what else is going on?