Published: November 04, 2009 04:44 pm      

Free press must never be stifled

On Nov. 1, 2009 you published a letter from a writer whose main purpose appeared to be praising the BDT for its unbiased coverage of the issues in the news. The writer exercised his First Amendment right to express his support for the democratic agendas, including government-ran health care. The letter was well written and it basically, in a more-or-less civil manner, outlined the writer’s disdain for the conservative viewpoint. Then he went and spoiled it all with the utterly-stupid and self-contradicting closing line: “Keep showing Fox news how a real news organization should be run.”

Even as the writer praised unbiased coverage of the news and exercised his First Amendment right of free speech to do so, he then took it upon himself to imply that he is qualified to determine who is and who is not a “real” news organization and, more scary, how they “should be run.” The same First Amendment that guarantees that writer the freedom of speech also guarantees America the right to a free press! That writer, the democratic party, David Axelrod, Rahm Emanual and even Barack Obama have no right to decide which news organization is or is not legitimate, and how they “should be run” just because the organization doesn’t exactly agree with their point of view.

I hope there is never a time in this country that one side of the political spectrum gains the power to stifle the news organizations that disagree with them and promote the ones which do agree with them. That could only be a dark day in America. That could only be the end of the free press!

As a conservative, independent citizen, I happen to personally believe that Fox News is among the very best organizations in offering the news in general and the political news in particular. All the news organizations out there have some overly enthusiastic news commentators who scream out their opinions. But they are just that: opinions. The extremely pro-democratic news organizations like MSNBC have their own over-zealous commentators who nearly foam at the mouth in lashing out against anything conservative. Yet, they are legitimate news organizations, and they have every right to scream and yell out their opinions. They, too, are just that: opinions.

I was a fan of NBC News for many, many years: from John Cameron Swayze in the 50s; Chet Huntley and David Brinkley up to the late 60s; John Chancellor and Frank McGee up to the early 80s; then Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw up until Brian Williams in about 2004. I switched to Fox News when the so-called mainstream media embarked upon their Democratic favoritism policies at the outset of the present administration’s campaign. I turned against these news organizations not for their coverage of the positive facts, but for their deliberate lack of coverage — even purposeful omission — of the negative facts. I switched from the so-called mainstream networks to Fox News for the exact same reasons that the writer of the aforementioned letter praises your unbiased coverage of the news. Isn’t that a coincidence?

J.R. Shuck

Princeton