Journalism is a term that I feel not many people understand, or don’t know exactly what it entails. I probably sound biased, being a journalist and all, but I can promise you real journalism isn’t inherently evil. Journalism is an important part of everybody’s life — not just those who get paid to do it.
It helps preserve a foundation of honesty and transparency between people in power and those who rely on them. It’s not some big scam to get people’s deepest, darkest secrets out of them. And it certainly isn’t focusing on making someone look bad unless they deserve it — trust me, we do not have enough time for that.
Part of journalism’s role is being a “watchdog.” This is a type that keeps people in power in check through extensive research. For example, in 1967, the New York Times and the Washington Post published “the Pentagon Papers,” a secret report detailing the United States’ involvement in Vietnam.
Despite the pushback from the Nixon administration on the story, with their threat of legal action, news outlets continued to publish the stories, so the American people could know exactly what was going on in their government.
Journalism is for the people — it’s generally a source of good that helps everyday citizens know what’s going on around them. Without the free press, democracy is nonexistent.
But it becomes nearly impossible for journalists to fill this role if politicians refuse to speak with the press in the first place.
In February, President Donald Trump barred the Associated Press (AP) from White House press events. A clear line had been drawn, dictating that if journalism outlets weren’t reporting on stories how he liked, then they would be banned from speaking with him in the first place.
Literally just in the last month, Trump’s administration tried to force journalists to sign a new agreement to be able to report on the Pentagon. The new rules state that journalists would have to have governmental permission to post stories that happen there and that “while members of the news media may be granted access under certain conditions, this is a privilege extended by the government and not a constitutionally protected right.”
Many news outlets, including The New York Times and Fox News, turned in their access badges rather than sign the sketchy and unnecessary rules.
This war on the press, however, doesn’t just happen on the national level; it’s present in our own backyard in Wichita.
In 2022, while Wichita was on the search for the next police chief, the city barred all finalists from speaking to reporters under a gag order. If you giggled at the term, don’t worry, I did too, but I assure you, it’s no laughing matter.
A gag order forbids someone — in this case, potential police chiefs — from speaking with the press: no interviews, no press conference questions, not even a single answer over email.
You may be sitting there asking – Why this is important? Why should we care if journalists can’t speak to politicians and other leaders, or potential leaders?
The thing is, it’s not about the specific individuals or journalists’ jobs. It’s about transparency and a feeling that we’re being lied to.
Sure, there are now YouTube press conference live streams and debates, and press releases from just about anyone in power, but here’s a secret:
They are all mostly scripted and rehearsed; fake answers to make themselves look good and appease their audiences.
They’re watered-down, pushover answers that only have one job — to paint the person speaking in the best possible light. There is no thinking involved with the answers from the speaker themselves. These scripted responses were probably examined by a billion editors sitting around a round table, sipping coffee and congratulating themselves on a job well done of preserving their client’s image.
You don’t truly learn about people or what they stand for with this method of information sharing. You learn the PR version of what they have to say.
Not only is it deceiving, but it also puts a sour taste in my mouth, personally. It presents the picture that they have something to hide, there’s something that isn’t right, and they don’t want us to know.
This is why journalists had to go to extreme lengths to release the Pentagon Papers; no one told them what they wanted to know, so they exposed decades’ worth of lies.
It may not seem like a big deal, but in the long scheme of things, this is only the beginning of losing what the truth actually means
The American people can not keep relying on picture-perfect press releases. Politicians, and honestly, anyone in power, need to speak to journalists. If they wanted power so bad, they needed to be held accountable for when something goes wrong, not just take credit when something goes right.
Don’t damage democracy just because you’re scared of a few people with a couple of tough questions. And if they can’t handle that, I highly encourage them to find another career — and for people not to vote until you know just exactly who you’re voting for.
