Necessary to the Security of a Free State
I recall with fondness a certain exchange I viewed a while back in a video clip from a British news report on American gun culture. It was entertaining to watch the palpably perplexed journalists question Americans at a gun shop as to why they felt the need to own firearms; it was enlightening to hear one intelligent citizen's simple response: “because it is my right as an American.”
We are indeed blessed to live in a country that guarantees us an extensive list of rights that the government is prohibited from infringing upon. As Jews, we have never had the opportunity in the history of our people to live in a nation that affords us so many freedoms. However, rather than merely providing us with protection from our government, our Bill of Rights does more. It also acts as a statement of principles and an expression of our common culture, it declares to us — and the world — not only those freedoms we wish to preserve but those values that we cherish.
Contrary to what the reader may have expected from the headline, the purpose of this article is not to emphasize the Second Amendment, but an important element of the First. American gun culture may be important to understanding America, but its impact is only secondary to a far more essential and more ancient phenomenon: American newspaper culture.
It’s a lamentable state of affairs that most Americans associate the freedom of the press exclusively with journalists and the professional news media. Of course this right protects the activities of what many call the “legacy media,” but it is tragically wrong and anachronistic to circumscribe this most important of rights — ensured to all citizens — to so narrow a sphere.
It was the effects wrought by the printing press that set in motion one of the greatest revolutions of Western history: the Protestant Reformation. Although many had questioned the authority of the Catholic Church before, opposition could never crystalize so long as information could not be easily shared. Later it would be Protestant communities in Europe that set up printing presses throughout the continent, printing Bibles and other books in the vernacular at an unprecedented scale, allowing literacy to proliferate as never before. This was core to the proud tradition of democratizing knowledge on which America was founded.
It was Alexis de Toqueville who most vividly and perceptively described the unique American fascination with the press. Writing before the time of the professional news media, he describes how publishing in America was open to nearly anyone interested, “that nothing is easier than to set up a newspaper,” with no license or tax required (as in his native France) for free citizens to freely express their ideas. He writes with shock and admiration of his discovery of columnists that lampooned President Jackson, and praises the American pioneers, who — though deeply civilized — bravely tamed the wilderness of the West with nothing but “the Bible, an axe and a file of newspapers.”
The notion of a free press that is open for all citizens to participate in, regardless of profession, is deeply rooted in America’s very DNA. A student of our history will recall the pamphleteers and amateur newspaper editors who mediated the great debates of our early republic: the disputes between the patriots and loyalists, the federalists and the anti-federalists and the Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians. All this occurred before the rise of modern journalism. “The press” was viewed as encompassing the entirety of the public arena of discourse, open to all citizens to share their thoughts and debate the issues of the day. It was the forum in which all the major decisions of the day were made.
Law Professor Akhil Amar describes freedom of the press as the freedom of the people to govern themselves. Indeed, it is obvious and intuitive that a people that seek to rule themselves together must have means to communicate and debate ideas, to persuade others and to express their views eloquently in writing. However, this also means that the journalistic undertaking must not be delegated to a specific caste of society. It’s a civic duty incumbent upon all.
Today we live amidst the greatest advancement in information technology since the printing press that so enamoured the framers of our Constitution. Podcasts, substacks and blogs allow for anyone to share their views with everyone. Social media allows political figures to engage with their constituents as never before. Participation in “the press” has become even easier than in de Toqueville’s time, a fact many Americans observed over the recent presidential campaign, in which candidates shunned large media corporations in favor of private podcasters that could take their voices directly to the people.
Watching President Trump or Sens. Vance and Fetterman on Joe Rogan’s podcast, I did not get the impression that I was viewing the product of some overly-professionalized corporation, but rather something much simpler and classically American. Joe Rogan is only a single citizen who seeks to make his voice heard, and although none of us may possess a following as large as his, we are still equally empowered to disseminate our views; to speak, to have conversations and to share them.
For some students at YU, this may manifest through starting a podcast or substack. For others, this may include writing for your student paper (I can help with that). This is true regardless of whether you intend to be a professional journalist or seek to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant. What I believe students today should not do is remain silent. As Americans, this is our birthright and — because it is our birthright — our obligation. A decentralized and fiercely independent citizen press is not merely an advantage of a democracy — it is necessary to the security of a free state.
