FREE PRESS A PRICEY PRIVILEGE
Rebeca Chapa
Monterey County Herald, CA
July 10 2007
I n the afterglow of Independence Day, some thoughts about freedom
of the press come to mind.
This country has a history of valuing a free press. It’s a right easy
to overlook, but important to remember.
Many people in other countries have paid a steep price for press
freedom.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 636 journalists have
died while trying to bring news to the public since the organization
began collecting data in January 1992.
In 72 percent of those cases, the cause of death was murder, compared
with 18 percent due to combat/crossfire and 10 percent related to
some other dangerous assignment.
This year, 24 journalists have been killed and an additional 17 deaths
are unconfirmed.
Perhaps the most widely publicized 2007 death was that of Hrant Dink,
a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent killed in January outside
the Istanbul office where he ran the bilingual newspaper Agos. Dink
frequently called for an end to the divisions between Turks and
Armenians.
Many believe Dink was killed for his opinion.
The other deaths in 2007 so far include 15 in Iraq, one in Afghanistan,
one in the Palestinian Territory, two in Pakistan, one in Russia and
three in Somalia.
They sacrificed their safety, peace of mind and lives to bring
information to the public.
A lot of journalists – myself included – like to think that we embody
Thomas Jefferson’s lofty vision that "the press is the best instrument
for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational,
moral and social being."
Many of my colleagues on the news side work hard to be that instrument
every day, and they succeed.
In other cases, as an industry, we fail, for a free press is only as
valuable as the information it imparts.
Excessive reporting on celebrity scandals, for example, may be evidence
of an American free press in that it fills a demand with a supply,
but is it furthering our collective understanding of anything?
Unfortunately, mainstream coverage often reflects what journalist
A.J. Liebling once said: "The function of the press in society is to
inform, but its role in society is to make money."
Newspapers these days are struggling with how best to stay relevant in
the face of rapidly changing forces, including a shrinking population
of (older) newspaper readers, a growing population of (younger)
television and Internet-based consumers, 24-hour news cycles and the
economic realities of swings in advertising and distribution costs.
That we as an industry are morphing is beyond doubt.
In responding to such change, we would do well to remember the
responsibility that comes with the privilege of a free – and valuable
– press.
Rebeca Chapa writes for the San Antonio Express-News.