Free life demands a free press

Sometimes a free press is annoying. Sometimes it is sloppy. Sometimes it is trivial.

But even on its worst days, a free press has something going for it that no government-controlled press ever can - the chance to tell the truth.

Mind you, it is just a chance. There is no guarantee you will get the truth, and consumers of news have a duty to be ever-vigilant against foolishness, bias and bad journalism, but it is the chance, the hope, the possibility of finding the truth and publishing it that leads reporters across the world to put their lives in danger every day.

We are fortunate here in America to have a system in place where the press is recognized as a vital component of self-government. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

This coming from a president who had a longstanding feud with the newspapers of his own time.

We may be sure that Jefferson, an architect of democracy, recognized that however much a free press could be a nuisance, the alternative was much worse.

In country after country around the world, that lesson is written in blood. A free press and tyranny, after all, are incompatible, and repressive regimes usually begin their reigns of terror by silencing the voices of those who are unafraid. Prison cells and worse await hundreds of journalists each year. In Cuba alone, there are 20 in prison. In China, there are at least 42. Every year a dozen or more journalists are killed.

This week, World Press Freedom Day is celebrated to keep uppermost in everyone's minds the importance of a free press and the responsibilities that come with that freedom.

Our First Amendment is the bedrock of the free press movement worldwide, but it should not be taken for granted. Any government can be tempted to keep its people in the dark - for convenience, for political purposes, or for even more sinister motives.

Let's re-dedicate ourselves to honoring the First Amendment and spreading its protections to other nations around the world. As long as one lone voice for truth is watching and reporting what goes on in high places, then even the high and mighty will cower. And if many of us join our voices together and demand freedom, then eventually the forces of oppression will tumble like the walls of Jericho.

Yes, the free press is often annoying, but when liberty needs a trumpet, it is indispensable.