“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”
— Thomas Jefferson, 1787
With these words, Jefferson captured the inextricable connection of a free press and public education. More than two centuries later, with the current attacks on both of these institutions, we need to examine and reinforce the value of their synergy.
Without a free press, the stories told by any entity with power and wealth — be it government, industry or individual — can and will become, de facto, our history. In this era of “fake news” and authoritarian leadership, we see the power of those forces to misshape public perception and manipulate public opinion. Over the years, these stories will form the education of our youth; if students are fed lies and distortions in the guise of facts, they will be unable to grow into the kind of citizens our democracy requires.
In the words of The Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Only a free press, empowered to question and criticize, can ensure that we all get the honest information we need to make the evidence-based decisions that enable us to perform our civic duties. Likewise, a free press depends on citizens who insist the press do its duty. A free press and educated citizens are key partners in preserving our democracy.
Our exponentially expanding sources of information make it difficult to determine if information is accurate, unbiased and complete. In social media, a cacophony of voices — many claiming “facts” or contradicting “facts” claimed by others — vie for our attention. Many people shut out voices that conflict with their own views and hear only those that confirm their own perspectives.
In this environment, the need for a trustworthy free press — skeptical, observant, and scrupulously honest — is greater than ever before, as is the need for the public to seek and protect a free press. Our president is at war with the press and any journalist who criticizes him. Market sea changes have been undermining the viability of the press for years — newspaper circulation has declined by half since 1990.
At the same time, funding of public education is declining. More than half the states receive less for education than they did a decade ago. Angry protest and political polarization in our schools undermine the civic engagement which is so important to education and learning.
These factors do not bode well for our citizens or our democracy.
I am fortunate enough to host live-stream talk shows, including “Likable Science,” on ThinkTech Hawaii, a Hawaii nonprofit that promotes constructive public engagement. Funded by the generosity of community-minded supporters, it has developed a new high-tech media model for content production through citizen journalism.
The value of citizen journalism is that the people involved become more actively engaged in a thoughtful examination of the world around them. This experience broadens our perspectives, and better connects us with each other, to form a more perfect union.
To that end, we should all engage in this Jeffersonian exchange of ideas. We can better separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the fiction, and the priorities from the distractions, raising the clarity of our collective thinking and thus the prospects for our community, our society, and our nation.
And, Lord knows, we need that clarity in these difficult, divisive, and very interesting times.
Ethan Allen, Ph.D., hosts the “Likable Science” and “Pacific Partnerships in Education” shows on ThinkTech Hawaii, and leads STEM education programs at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL).
