The fragile state of the free press
As we approach the official celebration of America's Declaration of Independence, a new study on coronavirus news reporting gives some interesting, and uncomfortable, insights into how seriously governments around the world, including the United States, value one of the chief foundations underpinning freedom.
The press freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders reported this week that at least 90 of the 193 countries that make up the United Nations have violated in some way the rights of news agencies to honestly and candidly cover the pandemic.
The violations range from the egregious - such as Iran's jailing of journalists who report stories about coronavirus the government doesn't like - to the merely unsavory - such as U.S. President Donald Trump's verbal attacks on reporters whose COVID-19 questions or reporting he doesn't like.
"The worst violations have not been limited to countries with poor rankings in the World Press Freedom Index," the report states. "Incidents have occurred in seven European countries (six of them EU members) where the press freedom situation is usually regarded as good or fairly good."
Individually and collectively, these violations demonstrate how ready governments, even governments that claim to value press freedom, are to obstruct or restrict the free flow of information, and that readiness emphasizes how important the free flow of information is. While it's the dominant story of the day, the coronavirus is just one controversial topic attracting news coverage. If governments are eager to tamp down reports about a disease they think make them look bad or will arouse the public to put more demands on them, it follows they are equally likely to suppress other controversial stories - whether the focus is police misdeeds, street protests, government spending, taxation or any other topic.
Agencies that report on these topics deserve no implicit assumption of accuracy or impartiality, of course. They might be one-sided. They might be incomplete. They might be wrong for any number of innocent or scurrilous reasons. In that regard, the duty falls on readers and viewers to critically analyze the reporting they see and decide for themselves what to believe and how seriously to act on it. Therein lie the true seeds of debate in our democratic republic, the debate that shapes the future of a country and a society. When governments or powerful individuals of any kind foreclose certain types of information, they foreclose the debate and irreparably harm the people it affects.
So, as we celebrate our freedoms this Independence Day weekend, let's recommit to the value of open and unrestricted reporting - even that with which we disagree. If our reason and our faith are strong, we won't be hurt by stories that are unsound or misguided. But if our access to any piece of information is impeded or obstructed or contaminated by uncontested disinformation, no amount of reason or faith can help us find the right course for our own lives or the life of our nation.
• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is deputy managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on Twitter at @JimSlusher.