The First Amendment to the Constitution includes freedom of speech and the press - along with religion, right to assembly and petition for a redress of grievances. In America these are the freedoms we hold most dear.
In this country we can say almost anything, unless it’s deemed threatening or intended to incite violence. Although lying is generally not against the law, most journalists consider it to be one of the gravest of sins, and exposing lies one of their most important responsibilities.
The best news organizations are those that seek to learn the truth and tell the truth, so they deliver both news and editorial opinions. A most important responsibility is to correct misinformation and tell their readers the facts, even when they don’t want to hear the facts.
There have been critical times in our history when reporting both facts and opinion were essential to preserving American values. It was the press that told the American people the truth about the secret expansion of the Vietnam War. It was the press that uncovered the truth about Watergate, and it was the press that finally reported Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were nonexistent.
It’s the press that continues to inform America today. Journalists are risking their lives to report the truth about Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Their mission is to report the facts of the war, while stateside journalists’ mission is to continue reporting on things like the war on voting rights in the U.S., the white nationalist threat to national security and the truth that the 2020 election was not stolen.
We are fortunate to have access to an array of media choices. Most quality newspapers and news magazines in America provide balanced editorial content for their readers. Their columnists represent differing viewpoints: conservative, liberal, libertarian, Republican, Democratic, independent or moderate. Readers may choose to read only those columns that represent their own views, or to read all of them, or none of them. It’s their choice.
The same goes for accessing other media. Viewers and listeners may choose which network or cable stations they care to watch. They may choose to restrict themselves to just one outlet, or to channel surf among all of them. Viewers make choices like whether to watch Hannity on Fox, Maddow on MSNBC or Cooper on CNN.
But no one expects to tell Hannity, Maddow or Cooper what they may talk about on their programs. Opinion writers don’t expect to be told what they may write about in their columns, either.
Some readers may find a particular columnist’s views irritating, but that doesn’t give them veto power over the content. Other readers may find the content of that particular column quite acceptable. Opinion pieces seldom please an entire audience, and if a newspaper is doing things right, they aren’t publishing just one viewpoint.
A good newspaper publishes cartoons that appeal to both right and left audiences. A good newspaper publishes conservative, liberal and middle-of-the-road opinion pieces. The front page is where the news is reported – as balanced and non-partisan as humanly possible. The editorial page, however, is where opinions of columnists and letters to the editor are found.
The word “opinion” means just that. It is the writer’s thoughts and beliefs about things. Not the newspaper’s opinion, not the readers’ opinions – it is the columnist’s opinion.
Some readers are going to like every idea or judgement put forth in a column. Other readers are going to hate every word written. The point is readers have a choice: they may read an opinion piece and either love it or hate it. If readers have a different opinion and want to express it, they may write their own column or send a letter to the editor. And, if they are really unhappy with a columnist’s opinions, the answer is simple – don’t read their columns.
Opinion writers accept the premise there will be readers who disagree with them. What is not acceptable, however, is when unhappy readers think they have the right to censure the content of opinion pieces, and then pressure editors to tell columnists what they may or may not write about.
Censure contradicts the very essence of the First Amendment of the Constitution. It strikes at the very heart of a free press.