In the May 7 issue of The Independent, I wrote a column addressing my concerns about how many people really don’t understand the importance of having the right of freedom of the press in our country. I later received an e-mail from a mystery critic, where some issues were expressed with this particular column. While I did understand some of the points this person was trying to make, this e-mail really did nothing more than reassure my feelings that many Americans do not understand freedom of the press.
    After blatantly being called an idiot by someone, who I suspect has no background in the media, and who I suspect has not extensively studied media, my belief that a lot of Americans are uninformed about the media and freedom of the press has only grown.
    As I said, I do understand some of the points that this mystery critic was trying to make. I understand that the media is sometimes used not as it was originally intended by the founding fathers. There are people in the business that have ruined most people’s ability to trust the media; however, the job of a journalist is to inform the country’s citizens, so that they may better govern themselves. A true journalist takes this responsibility with honor and pride, knowing that they are doing a service to the people in their community. This is what our founding fathers intended when they first decided to include freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights.
    Although the media has had some downward spirals, there are still some true journalists out there whose lives revolve around getting to the truth, and getting that truth to the American people. I encourage all of you to go online and watch Expose's Mr. Heath Goes to Washington. This 30 minute show relays an experiance of Seattle Times reporter David Heath. Without our freedom of the press, these journalists and broadcasters wouldn’t be able to continue to inform, which could ultimately lead to our inability to govern ourselves as a democracy.
    The mystery critic also asked why I had only mentioned negative things that had been in the media. The obvious answer is, our government would never try to cover up a potential news story that was positive; however, they just might try to control the negative news.