Your responses to 'Enemy of the People' editorials
Standing up for truth
I commend the Daily Herald for its front page banner and editorial. We need the press to stand up and tell the truth, to open our eyes and let us know "the emperor has no clothes." And with our eyes opened, we must act. No more complacency, no more "my vote doesn't count." We, too, need to stand up and be counted and work for the truth.
Jill Bergner
Arlington Heights
Press just called out
The opening line in your Aug. 19 editorial attributed to The Boston Globes strikes at the core of the total argument, "the nation's Founding Fathers took for granted that the press would be biased ..." I think that the press chooses to bring their individual and collective liberal and progressive biases to their coverages, comments and editorials.
By doing so they often promote their views more so than report the news fairly, which is their prerogative but they cannot be upset when that fact is called out.
As a conservative, I want both sides of an argument to be presented and then let the public formulate their opinion.
All too often it seems to me that we are only given one side by "the biased press" as exemplified by a mass editorial by 350 newspapers.
Mike McCormick
Elk Grove Village
Attack on democracy
By attacking the press, our president is attacking democracy. Journalism is a tough, truth finding career. I wish those who take democracy for granted would visit a dictatorship country just to notice the difference. They would immediately see the shocking difference of not having the freedoms we enjoy. Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will never hurt us.
The truth should always prevail and the press shows both sides according to what paper you buy or news channel you watch. This is freedom. I buy The Daily Herald. Sometimes I disagree, sometimes I agree but dictatorship is the worst possible option.
Unfortunately President Donald Trump's two years in power has shown his wish to take us toward a dictatorship. A controlled press by any government would be the end of democracy.
Agustin Garcia
Arlington Heights
Free press is essential
There is no question that a free press is essential to our democracy and guaranteed by the Constitution.
The evil denunciations spewed by Trump upon the press as well as his evil attempts to discredit all our democratic institutions and embrace Putin are evidence of his attempts to be a dictator like Putin.
John Rix
Schaumburg
We need more than lip service to freedom
To the editor of the Slidell Independent:
Our newspaper - the Daily Herald in the Northwest Chicago suburbs - published an editorial regarding the president's attacks on the media. Then, the editors devoted the Opinion page to responses from subscribers and excerpts from the editorials of other papers (including yours). They called on readers to continue the dialogue, through social media and letters to the editor.
I consider President Donald Trump's characterization of ANY news organization as an "enemy of the people" to be an abuse of the bully pulpit. Those who respectfully and thoughtfully disagree with the comments and actions of public officeholders have a right to voice that dissent and not be dismissed out of hand, or disparaged for their views.
I read the complete editorial you ran yesterday on your website. You have a right to your opinion, and I wanted to hear you out. I take issue with some of the "facts" you mention, like purported underreporting of the Clinton email investigations and hearings. Whatever side you take on that subject, the notion that there was insufficient news coverage? Hardly.
I wanted to publicly respond to your editorial. I wanted to submit a letter to the editor, but don't see where you offer this service to your readers. Comments to the editorial on the website are closed.
I conclude your paper is no more interested in hearing dissenting views than our president. That's the real problem in our society today. It happens in the private sector, as well. We pay lip service to diversity and the exchange of ideas and perspectives, but close our minds to those who disagree. Those in power - like our current president - try to take advantage of that all-too-human weakness to further the divide and their own advantage. And that's decidedly unpatriotic and un-American.
Frank Ress
Arlington Heights
Only cares for freedom for those who bow to him
I appreciated the statement in the Herald's editorial several days ago. When are the so-called populists going to realize this president has no concern for freedom of the press unless it does his bidding.
Americans, he is not interested in freedom for all unless we bow to his law. His laws and idea of rule are not in the interest of all Americans, just those who believe in his facheist philosophy.
We, as a free people, are in a serious state. He is already taking away privileges from men, of responsibility, for not supporting his policies. Once he has removed them all from their positions he can replace
them with people that will bow down to his demands. Americans, that will be the end of democracy.
Bill Palmer
Hoffman Estates
A dictator's words
Congratulations to you and your fellow members of the press for standing up for free speech and your role in "speaking truth to power." Keep up the great work.
Willard Bishop
Barrington Hills
It's president who distorts truth
A personal response to all who think the Daily Herald has relentlessly pursued the destruction of an American presidency: You are in the minority.
The Daily Herald presents the facts about issues we face every day with a crazed man who proves time and time again his efforts to distort the truth and follow the path of his idol Putin as his main agenda and the best way to accomplish this is to attack the First Amendment of our Constitution.
Freedom of religion, speech and the PRESS, rights of assembly and petition. It's unfortunate Trump and his supporters are not aware of this first and most important amendment if we are to remain a free people.
May God save our nation.
Jeannine Brown
Kildeer
Local news is not what president is disparaging
This is in response to the Daily Herald's Sunday, Aug. 19, editorial.
I commend you on your deft sleight of hand prose extolling your life's work in service to your readers. But your premise that President Donald Trump is disparaging those efforts are just plain wrong. That's ludicrous. And you know that is not the case.
You bristle at the "Enemy of the people" phrase which actually is very narrowly applied. It's a catchphrase that encapsulates the Presidents acknowledgment of the constant drumbeat of incessant negativity directed at him and the people who elected him, all the while disregarding pertinent facts that support the opposite. If you are going to report, actually report news.
We also see that in the airwaves among talking heads. Just because it's said or written in black and white does not make it so. And that's largely what the liberal press and pundits expect us to believe. We think for ourselves. Your stewardship of words matter but only when it is balanced.
I listen to both sides, but all too often only one perspective pervades newsprint and that perspective is blatantly evident in your editorial. No one should be above reproach including the Press or the Daily Herald.
Bill Anderson
Schaumburg
Stick to the news
You folks in the news business might get more respect if you stuck to the news and stopped preaching your agenda. A perfect example is on the front page of the issue where you complained so much.
The first sentence of the article on Brennan losing his security clearance reads (CAPS are mine): "President Donald Trump ABRUPTLY revoked the security clearance of ex-CIA Director John Brennan on Wednesday, an unprecedented act of RETRIBUTION against a vocally critical former top U.S. official."
ABRUPTLY? How do you know that President Trump hadn't been contemplating this for weeks or months? Answer: you don't. But that didn't stop you from "reporting" that his action was "abrupt." And I bet you didn't mean that as a pat on the back.
RETRIBUTION? How do you know that his motivation was retribution? How do you know that he didn't act in response to Brennan's lying to Congress and his unprecedented politicizing of his former position? Answer: You don't. But again that didn't stop you from "reporting" in a way that promotes your agenda.
I couldn't understand why you deviate from your responsibility as a news organization to report the news and instead try to promote your clearly anti-Trump agenda. And then you gave me the answer in your Opinion page on the following Sunday: "Ultimately, our job is to make the world a little better place."
WRONG!!
Your job is to report the news, truthfully and factually, without altering your reporting to suit what you believe will make the world a little better place.
Rich Schwanbeck
Elk Grove Village
Not immune to criticism
Get over yourself. As a newspaper, you are not immune to challenges to authority. You imply as much in your editorial today.
Stop you crying and whining and re-examine how you go about your mission. True objective journalism is dying in our country. Add that to your First Amendment discussions.
Let me ask this, why so much in the DH from The Washington Post?
Don Hull
Mundelein
Proved his point
The fact that you chose to join the cabal against President Donald Trump only proves his point …. you are all working together against him. Nowhere in your statement Aug. 16 does it say "fake news," which is what he has spoken out against.
Joan Baillie
Volo
Well said
Re: " Not enemies, but voices of the people." Amen and well said.
Mary Raymond
Wauconda
National stories are the problem
I agree with your comments in your Aug. 19 editorial and wanted to share that with you.
At a local level, the information that your paper provides is very valuable to my wife, and the reason why she gets the Daily Herald. She often shares stories with me from the local news. In this effort, you are truly "servant to the people."
Our concern is with the national news feeds that you get from The Washington Post and AP. These news stories are often not worthy of the print space. And, we never read them anymore. We get The Wall Street Journal instead because the stories in that paper are more fair and balanced. And, they do criticize Trump even in the op ed section.
Of course, we recognize that you need to print some national news. And, others enjoy reading these stories because they feed their continued hatred of our current president. After all, they need to resist, you know. Just think of the response from these same "resisters" if people disagreed with President Obama treated him the same way.
Racism was a term used quite a lot by them for any policy disagreement with Obama, and the vitriol of conservatives (I heard it, so I know) never reached this current level during Obama's presidency. (Can you just think the response from these same liberal resisters if conservatives didn't attend his inauguration and immediately spouted off, "Impeach 44" or if a conservative did like Madonna did who stated that I often think of "blowing up the White House"?)
It was for this reason that I was disappointed in your Aug. 16 editorial. It only served to further divide our country. But, I appreciate your clarification in today's paper, you are a "servant of the people" at the local level. It is just that, in my opinion, the Washington Post, NY Times, AP, etc. are not.
Jerry Groen
Libertyville
Founders put trust in a free press
The Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, defines the unique greatness of our nation. We don't need to "make America great again." We need only remember what we should already have learned about the nature of freedom as the bedrock of our national identity.
Our evolution as a democracy has always depended upon the people's determination to protect the rights of a free press, free speech, free religion, and free assembly.
The Founding Fathers sought to create a republic with an exquisite balance among the competing voices of its diverse peoples. The Constitution would never have been ratified without the states and the people first insisting upon the passage of the Bill of Rights.
Those freedoms belong to "we the people," and can never be our enemy. When John Adams sought re-election with the help of a Sedition Act that would silence his critics in the press, the people turned him out in favor of Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1800. Then, as now, our government and our institutions such as the press can only be as good as we are in our collective wisdom to discern the truth.
The press of the late 1700s was equal parts obnoxious and eloquent, responsible and fearmongering. However, those Americans were most fearful of tyranny, and viewed the press as the crucial guarantor against abuse of power by autocratic-minded leaders who wished to mimic Old Europe.
These are dangerous times and we could lose it all in a heartbeat if we believe the press to be the enemy of the people.
Patricia Duncan
Lake Zurich
This talk must stop
Thank you for you editorial on the assault on the press by Donald Trump. Even Nixon during his worst days did not say the press was the enemy of the people. Only a dictator or a wannabe dictator say this. Our democracy is fragile and must be protected. This kind of talk from the president has to stop.
Greg Drecoll
Libertyville
A dictator's words
Congratulations to you and your fellow members of the press for standing up for free speech and your role in "speaking truth to power." Keep up the great work.
Willard Bishop
Barrington Hills
It's president who distorts truth
A personal response to all who think the Daily Herald has relentlessly pursued the destruction of an American presidency: You are in the minority. The Daily Herald presents the facts about issues we face every day with a crazed man who proves time and time again his efforts to distort the truth and follow the path of his idol Putin as his main agenda and the best way to accomplish this is to attack the First Amendment of our Constitution. Freedom of religion, speech and the PRESS, rights of assembly and petition. It's unfortunate Trump and his supporters are not aware of this first and most important amendment if we are to remain a free people.
May God save our nation.
Jeannine Brown
Kildeer
Disgusting to compare president to dictators
I'm writing in response to your Opinion piece "Not enemies, but voices of the people." How disgusting for the newspaper to compare an elected American president with communist and totalitarian dictators. This is what the newspaper has devolved to.
But let's concentrate on the First Amendment and freedom of the press that your newspaper and other outlets are so concerned with. Where are the facts to support your opinion piece? Facts like which reporters were spied on by the Trump administration, or had their computers hacked, imprisoned or disappeared (like in real dictatorships).
Was the newspaper concerned about an "unprecedented assault from the highest office" when the Obama administration spied on Associated Press reporters, or James Rosen of Fox News, or when the administration hacked into Sharyl Attkisson's computer? Those were real attacks against the free press, not just negative comments. As for negative comments, didn't Obama call out Fox News, specific Fox News commentators and the talk radio media outlet for being unfair? Wasn't that an "unprecedented assault from the highest office"? I don't recall seeing any cartoons of Obama alongside communist dictators.
Where was the concern for the First Amendment and free speech when social media outlets tried to silence people with "conservative" opinions? Or when people are attacked on college campuses for their speech? Or when political officials are chased out of restaurants? How about an "unprecedented assault" from elected officials who call for inciting violence by "getting in people's faces" whenever they get the chance?
The answer to all of those questions is that there was no concern from this newspaper. "Not enemies, but voices of the people." Yeah, right.
Bill Lebensorger
Gurnee
Lack of fairness stokes divisions
Sadly you and your 200 newspaper allies are confused regarding the debate over "Fake News" that is being attacked as the "Enemy of the people." You do indeed have a First Amendment right to publish your opinions and your version of the news. Nobody is challenging that. But "We the people" and President Donald Trump also have the right to disagree with you and point out what we believe is biased and inaccurate reporting.
Unfortunately for you, the hard and scientific facts prove that your reporting is often biased and unfair. The Harvard study proved that most of the media is highly biased against President Donald Trump. That study showed CNN is negative on Trump 93 percent of the time and The Washington Post, which the Daily Herald often uses for national and international news is negative on Trump 83 percent of the time.
Another study shows that in general, the news media is negative on President Donald Trump 90 percent of the time. America has the lowest unemployment for blacks and Hispanics in recorded history and we now have more open jobs than unemployed people thanks to President Donald Trump, yet Stormy Daniels is the headlines in the "fake news."
A majority of Americans will see higher incomes under President Donald Trump yet Omarosa Manigualt Newman is in the headlines.
That is why according to Gallup, only 32 percent of Americans have a great deal or some trust in the news media, which is an all-time low. A democracy can only exist if the people are properly informed and motivated. If the media is as biased as these studies show, it is indeed "The enemy of the people."
Randy Rossi
Grayslake
Dishing it out but can't take it
Friday the 17th editorial page, had 20 editors from newspapers all over the country state their grievances with President Donald Trump.
Let us look at this from a different angle.
Trump unexpectedly won the presidency. That in itself was a shock, after all, the editors had just traded a politically correct, suave president, for a direct opposite. 90% of the press pounded on the new president; chased him into a corner and poked him with sticks. That was so much fun.
Slowly this amatuer has been able to put together an effi-cient team and begin to fulfill many of his seemingly impossi-ble promises. Now it is his turn and the press and their political favorites do not like it.
I am not saying who is right or who is wrong I only point out what is now happening.
The press can dish it out but can't take it.
Dushan Lipensky
Wheaton
Free press not enemy; it IS the people
Thank you for standing up so eloquently to support a free press in your editorial on Thursday, Aug. 16.
Donald Trump has destroyed and diminished so many values and ideals that have been held by the American people since the inception of our country with his vulgar language and demeaning attitude, but his attack on the free press is truly an attack on our rights under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Anyone who has ever studied the Revolutionary era knows that the press played an important role in convincing the citizenry to adopt the Constitution.
Right or wrong, the press is not the enemy of the people, it IS the people. If we value our ability to choose and think for ourselves, rather than have a dictator tell us what to think and believe, then we desperately need a free press. Power to the people. Power to the free press.
Threse Bonnan
Roselle
Protection against tyranny
Thank you for speaking out against Donald Trump's attacks on the free press of America. To be free from tyranny a citizen must be able to know that information given to him is from a neutral source. Propaganda from governments has been a corrosive force in any country without a free press.
Donald Trump attempts to demonize and quiet news outlets in America. If there was any original intention that our nation's Founding Fathers wanted to pass to us, it is our First Amendment's freedom of speech and knowledge of government leaders' actions.
Trump's incessant and vindictive disparaging of our free speech right is diminishing America's democracy. Our soldiers died to protect it and now the Daily Herald has bravely spoken in defense of free speech and the freedom of the press. Keep up the good fight.
Tom Teune
Wheaton
Let us know politics of news employees
Responding to your editorial entitled, "Not enemies, but voice of the people," please note that Pope Francis addressed the issue of "fake news" in a message for Communications, last January. How did he describe fake news? "The term 'fake news' has been the object of great discussion and debate. In general, it refers to the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media. It has to do with false information based on non-existent or distorted data meant to deceive and manipulate the reader. Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests."
He goes on to say "Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue …"
His whole message has to do with truth. However, your editorial did not mention truth; up front, it said it is the "voice of the people." Well, which people? Maybe on your editorial page (one of many pages), you give half time to one side of an issue, half time to the other side (maybe). But for the rest of the pages, your paper is the voice of those in your employ. What is the ratio of Democrat to Republican in your employ? What is the ratio of Trump supporters to Trump haters in your employ?
Let us know, and then we can decide if your paper is an enemy of people you don't agree with …
Kristin Kocan
Warrenville
No report on Socialist
So while I do not agree that the free press at large is the enemy of the people, I do have to ask why there hasn't been wall-to-wall coverage in regards to the left's new Socialist darling from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' town hall meeting last week. It appears she had a "public" meeting but locked all reporters out of the room and this was not the first time. So when will the "free press" organize hundreds of newspapers across the country demanding Ocasio-Cortez stop restricting freedom of the press?
Tony Atkins
Wheaton
Overwhelmingly biased coverage hurts country
The press is only the friend of the people when they provide a fair and balanced news report. The media with respect to President Donald Trump has not done this. You have reported 92 percent negative comments and only 8 percent positive.
Have you reported the good news for black employees? Have you reported that Trump's approval among blacks is 36 percent? These things should be headlined. When you concentrate on negatives you only hurt the country and increase the division that already exists.
You lauded the ANTIFA - They have proved to be more hateful than the group they are demonstrating against.
Have you reported that universities are not even permitting conservative speakers - have you announced how you disagree with that perspective. It seems to me that the primary focus of the press is to destroy the president. No wonder the president tweets against you.
Robert Finkel
Glen Ellyn
How can coverage of this president be positive?
A Bloomingdale letter writer asked "Does anyone really think that Trump's criticism of the press isn't well deserved?" as he goes on to recite estimated figures of negative coverage our adulterous, Trump University-scamming president has received.
How can coverage of hateful remarks and tweets by our president be anything but negative? How can our press give positive coverage of our president's attacks on our intelligence community, our allies, war hero John McCain, countries he describes with an expletive and women he finds unattractive?
There can only be negative coverage of Trump's defense of the likes of Roy Moore, Sheriff Arpaio, the Charlottesville alt-right marchers, Flynn, Manafort, Bannon, Price, Rob Porter, Pruitt - and soon to be added to that long list of disgraceful "best people" - Interior Secretary Zinke, ex-coal lobbyist EPA Administrator Wheeler and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Certainly there can be no positive coverage of our president's kowtowing meetings with murderous Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. How can our press give a positive spin to the intelligence reports that North Korea and Russia are now more emboldened and increasing their arsenals?
This letter writer must surely obtain his positive news from our president's favorite fawning, conservative entertainment/news show and where he has learned the "what about…" tactic. He is absolutely wrong to say that Obama, Clinton and Schumer have said the same things as our divisive, bigoted, self-enriching president.
Without our press providing accurate information, we might believe the 4000-plus fact-checked lies spewed by our president - millions voted illegally in 2016, Russia's interference in our elections is a hoax, Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting with the Russians was about adoption, U.S. Steel is building six new steel mills …
Without free press coverage our country would resemble Trump buddies' countries North Korea and Russia. We must defend and applaud our free press.
Jane Cox
Wheaton
Press must be fair to be a friend to the people
The press is only the friend of the people when they provide a fair and balanced news report. The media with respect to President Donald Trump has not done this. You have reported 92 percent negative comments and only eight percent positive.
Have you reported the good news for black employees? Have you reported that Trump's approval among blacks is 36 percent? These things should be headlined.
When you concentrate on negatives, you only hurt the country and increase the division that already exists.
Have you reported that universities are not even permitting conservative speakers? Have you announced how you disagree with that perspective? It seems to me that the primary focus of the press is to destroy the president. No wonder the president tweets against you.
Robert Finkel
Glen Ellyn
Hold them accountable
The task of a free press is to hold politicians accountable for their words and actions. Yes, President Donald Trump has been severely criticized. But I'm old enough to recall that the press has been pretty evenhanded in its editorializing about past administrations, both Republican and Democratic.
Jack Kramer
St. Charles
Press didn't cover Obama's misstatements
It was with great interest that I read the self-serving editorial on freedom of the press and Trumps attack on the media for being fake news. The plan to have so many papers print the opinion certainly got a lot of people talking about it today.
I wonder though, where was the press during the eight years of the Obama administration? Very little coverage of the misstatements during those eight years including such topics as the lies told during the passage of Obama's ACA, Lois Lerner and the entire IRS scandal, the horror in Benghazi (Obama's explanation was "a bump in the road"), Fast and Furious, Loretta Lynch on the tarmac … you get the picture.
During the Obama years, there was little to no reporting on the negative downside of each of those events. Yet you found only praise and positive reports about Obama for his entire eight years.
Now I find the vast majority of stories about Trump in the news are negative. No mention of a greatly improved economy, lower taxes, lowest unemployment in years and a strong mix of conservative judges in contrast to all of the liberal district courts.
I agree that Mr. Trump often speaks when I wish he wouldn't and uses phrases that I wish he wouldn't, but he is getting a lot accomplished.
I admit to being a "news junkie" but pride myself on getting stories each day from NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News and The Daily Herald. Interesting how the same story is altered with so much spin.
I wonder who is still reading and/or listening. I fear fewer and fewer are paying attention or finding the truth.
Diane Eden
St. Charles
Hold them accountable
I've read a number of comments criticizing the "left-leaning" press. One letter to the editor accused the press of relentlessly pursuing the destruction of the American presidency. The task of a free press is to hold politicians accountable for their words and actions. Yes, President Donald Trump has been severely criticized. But I'm old enough to recall that the press has been pretty evenhanded in its editorializing about past administrations, both Republican and Democratic.
Jack Kramer
St. Charles
All of us must stand up to the president
Your editorial which begins on the front page of the Aug. 16 Daily Herald is on the side of hundreds of press outlets that are fighting to turn back the assaults on our free press. Not, as you poin`t out, that the press is a monolithic anti-Trump siren ... the outlets are all different even in category: print media, social media, broadcast media and so on.
The Daily Herald sees the problem, diagnoses the problem and issues a call to action "We urge Trump's allies to show the courage to challenge him and show support for freedom of the press."
Your call to action is particularly important in what is now the beginning of the election season. Devin Nunes is a particularly egregious example of a supporter who doesn't stand up. On the contrary, Nunes is an enabler who clearly works to obstruct the balance needed to challenge Trump and his disgraceful view of American presidential power.
My own congressman - Sixth District U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam - also needs that courage. Roskam is in the group of Republicans who supports the president thereby enabling his outrageous behavior. When called to comment on Trump's behavior, Roskam said "Trump is controversial."
To exit from this sordid period of American history, all of us must show not only courage but the decency to stand up to Trump.
Sanford Morganstein
West Dundee
Ignoring history
Thank you for the excellent editorial on the "Not enemies, but voices of the people" and "Servant of the People."
I am very pleased to be a subscriber of the Daily Herald. I am an immigrant, or it is appropriate to say that my ancestors were immigrants and fled Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine in 1845-49. They, as Catholics, moved into north central Pennsylvania. I don't know how welcomed they were, but they became acquainted with the German Brethren (Old Order Brethren) - and eventually members of the Church of the Brethren, one of the then three historic peace churches, along with the Friends and the Mennonites.
How fortunate that our news media does support even the voices of peace churches - as you note, to make the world a little better place.
I am the great, great grandchild - and then some, of an immigrant. And so is President Donald Trump. How can he ignore his history so easily?
Ralph McFadden
Elgin
Let us know politics of news employees
Responding to your editorial entitled, "Not enemies, but voice of the people," please note that Pope Francis addressed the issue of "fake news" in a message for Communications, last January. How did he describe fake news? "The term 'fake news' has been the object of great discussion and debate. In general, it refers to the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media. It has to do with false information based on non-existent or distorted data meant to deceive and manipulate the reader. Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests."
He goes on to say "Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue …"
His whole message has to do with truth. However, your editorial did not mention truth; up front, it said it is the "voice of the people." Well, which people? Maybe on your editorial page (one of many pages), you give half time to one side of an issue, half time to the other side (maybe). But for the rest of the pages, your paper is the voice of those in your employ. What is the ratio of Democrat to Republican in your employ? What is the ratio of Trump supporters to Trump haters in your employ?
Let us know, and then we can decide if your paper is an enemy of people you don't agree with …
Kristin Kocan
Warrenville
Dishing it out but can't take it
Friday the 17th editorial page, had 20 editors from newspapers all over the country state their grievances with President Donald Trump.
Let us look at this from a different angle.
Trump unexpectedly won the presidency. That in itself was a shock, after all, the editors had just traded a politically correct, suave president, for a direct opposite. 90% of the press pounded on the new president; chased him into a corner and poked him with sticks. That was so much fun.
Slowly this amatuer has been able to put together an effi-cient team and begin to fulfill many of his seemingly impossi-ble promises. Now it is his turn and the press and their political favorites do not like it.
I am not saying who is right or who is wrong I only point out what is now happening.
The press can dish it out but can't take it.
Dushan Lipensky
Wheaton
Free press not enemy; it IS the people
Thank you for standing up so eloquently to support a free press in your editorial on Thursday, Aug. 16.
Donald Trump has destroyed and diminished so many values and ideals that have been held by the American people since the inception of our country with his vulgar language and demeaning attitude, but his attack on the free press is truly an attack on our rights under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Anyone who has ever studied the Revolutionary era knows that the press played an important role in convincing the citizenry to adopt the Constitution.
Right or wrong, the press is not the enemy of the people, it IS the people. If we value our ability to choose and think for ourselves, rather than have a dictator tell us what to think and believe, then we desperately need a free press. Power to the people. Power to the free press.
Threse Bonnan
Roselle
Protection against tyranny
Thank you for speaking out against Donald Trump's attacks on the free press of America. To be free from tyranny a citizen must be able to know that information given to him is from a neutral source. Propaganda from governments has been a corrosive force in any country without a free press.
Donald Trump attempts to demonize and quiet news outlets in America. If there was any original intention that our nation's Founding Fathers wanted to pass to us, it is our First Amendment's freedom of speech and knowledge of government leaders' actions.
Trump's incessant and vindictive disparaging of our free speech right is diminishing America's democracy. Our soldiers died to protect it and now the Daily Herald has bravely spoken in defense of free speech and the freedom of the press. Keep up the good fight.
Tom Teune
Wheaton
No report on Socialist
So while I do not agree that the free press at large is the enemy of the people, I do have to ask why there hasn't been wall-to-wall coverage in regards to the left's new Socialist darling from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' town hall meeting last week. It appears she had a "public" meeting but locked all reporters out of the room and this was not the first time. So when will the "free press" organize hundreds of newspapers across the country demanding Ocasio-Cortez stop restricting freedom of the press?
Tony Atkins
Wheaton