“There is a terrific disadvantage in not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily. Even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn’t write it, and even though we disapprove, there isn’t any doubt that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.” John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
Once was the time that we had great trust in our media to report news fairly and give us relevant information of what is happening within our cities as well as across the nation. The media was tenacious in pursuing Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, leading him to become the first ever President to resign the office in 1974.
Perhaps fueled by their success in that endeavor, the media of today bears little resemblance to the media we largely trusted so many years ago. The media of today seems less inclined towards reporting news fairly, especially in political news and more inclined to push an agenda favored by the leftwing politicians.
Those of us old enough to remember can recall how throughout the 1980’s the media ridiculed Ronald Reagan with Sam Donaldson coming on after televised speeches to inform of us what he “really said or meant.” George H.W. Bush was portrayed as a buffoon. And of course, the relentless assaults on George W. Bush through the 2000’s even to the point in 2004 of a fabricated memo surfacing and reported as “fake but accurate.”
B.J. Clinton was glorified in several ways with the media having to be unwillingly dragged into reporting his involvement with Monica Lewinsky through the 1990’s and of course, Barack Obama who the media granted a total pass to, continuing throughout his terms, showing no interest in Benghazi, Fast & Furious or the economy sliding towards collapse since he assumed office. Instead, the media tells us well off we really are and how great Obama is.
The media somewhere began showing less interest in actual news and more interest in shaping public opinion, promoting a political point of view and always promoting more and more government control over us.
We have seen it ever since the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary as they fall in line supporting the drive towards what is labeled “reasonable and rations” gun control measures in spite of the Second Amendment granting us the “right to keep and bear arms,” prohibiting government from infringing on that right.
Oddly enough, even as some media outlets over the years have editorialized that the second amendment is outdated and irrelevant, many are quick to hide behind the first amendment when the public calls them out on reporting when it offends or embarrasses certain people.
Our own local paper, the Columbian is as guilty as the rest, having jumped on the bandwagon to push for new laws targeting guns and the free access to them by law abiding citizens, supporting the so-called “assault weapons ban,” “universal background checks” on private gun sales, “federal standards for concealed carry license,” labeling these as “common-sense measures.”
That none of them actually addresses criminals and illegal weapons is cast aside as is the measures stand to violate not only the second amendment rights of citizens, but the fourth amendment rights protecting us from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Even though the Seattle Times ran a piece indicating the potential constitutional violation in the pending assault weapons ban, the Columbian did not. Then too, the Seattle Times ran the piece sympathetic that the ban could be derailed because of it not that it violated our rights.
Although granting the authors of the bill a pass on their claims of being unaware of the provision for our homes to be inspected by Police to ensure our guns are “properly stored,” none seem interested in revealing that they are not being exactly truthful as it has been revealed by Sound Politics blog of the same provision for Police inspections of our homes written into previous efforts by the same authors.
Somehow, legislators repeatedly trying to slip legislation through knowingly violating our constitutional right against “unreasonable searches and seizures” aren’t as newsworthy as is an accident with a gun.
But then again, as said above, the goal today seems more to be shaping public opinion than actually reporting the truth in a fair and balanced way.
I am coming to the conclusion that if we are to save our country and protect our freedoms and liberties, it isn’t guns that must be limited, it’s the freedom of the press.
If for no other reason, turnabout is fair play. If our second amendment rights are “outdated and irrelevant,” aren’t their first amendment rights as well?
Maybe they should reconsider their turning a blind eye to constitutional violations.
