I just read an eloquent letter to The Epoch Times referencing a famous quote from a Mesa, Ariz. newspaper years ago. The reader’s comments—with me seeing that others share my concerns—moved me to tears.
That quote was about fighting to the death to protect others’ right to say something, a value being forgotten, such as that increasingly newspapers are no longer publishing letters to editors. How can any credible editor or publisher embrace such idiocy?
As a retired journalist, it shocks me that, seemingly, journalism schools are failing to teach the core values of journalism: truth, or the closest we mortals can come to it, is in exploring and reporting as many perspectives and as much information as possible to allow an informed public to draw their OWN conclusions, a value being further trounced because such reporting is time-consuming and far more expensive to do.
I’m a huge fan of Teddy Roosevelt’s statement that its government’s obligation to control the excesses of business. I oppose silly regulations and over-regulation, but media deregulation, post-1987—beginning with broadcast media but then spreading catastrophically over into print media--is a ghastly, dangerous failure that threatens our very democracy.
Democracies require TRUSTWORTHY information or will perish or slip into violence as might happen over the hot-button issue of immigration. Media reporting on the topic clearly inflames, rather than informs, precisely the type of behavior, I believe, to which Teddy Roosevelt referred.
Kathleene Los Alamos, N.M.
