Public Has a Right to Know

Carly Graman 

cg105511@ohio.edu

Our lips are sealed

Let’s start by looking at the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Notice how it says freedom of speech, or the press. To me this is very interesting after reading recent news and hearing this right is being hindered. The press seems to be heavily guided and controlled by the government now a days especially in regards to terrorism, war and foreign affairs. People are starting to take notice and getting frustrated by the government withholding important information. After reading the Huffington Post I was a little disturbed about how the government tries to control the press. The Huffington Post states, It is not unusual for CNN or the NYT to agree not to publish something because the White House asked them,” Asher told HuffPost. “And frankly, our democracy isn't well served when journalists agree to censor their work.” I don’t know but it seems like the “freedom of press” has been thrown out the window. The unnerving fact that the government is telling our journalism what they can and cannot print does not sit well with most.

Breach of Information

               

People aren’t happy with government withholding information and not publishing full truths. We do live in a democracy after all, so why the sudden change in withholding information? Government says it’s in the best interest of our national security but citizens feel they have things to hide. Thus the creation of Wikileaks. Wikileaks is cracking open information for the public and letting them know things the government is trying to hide. Wikileaks is trying to give people their right to information and right to the press back.

Photo: http://topstepconsulting.com/keeping-top-secret/

Doing our Job

The purpose of journalism is to provide information to the public and keep them in the know. When government steps in and says you can’t release this and you keep release that, then it is keeping us from doing our job. We are reflected in a bad light because we are seen as the ones withholding information. We should not feel these restraints and should feel free to report and write on whatever we deem appropriate. We should not let government regulate our work.

While I do think releasing all information is not in the best interest of our nation, there is important information they are holding back from us. Without sites like Wikileaks we would not know this information. I think it’s time we start pushing back and requiring the government to keep us in the know of affairs. We can’t settle for less and have the wool pulled over our eyes. It’s our government and our right to know so it’s time we start demanding information. Little by little more people are speaking out and something is starting to be done about it. People want their information from the government and us as journalist. 

Quote: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/03/new-york-times-al-qaeda-leak-story_n_4037396.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share