Be wary about ominous encroachments on the First Amendment

You routinely now hear how this or that development in American life today is “unprecedented.” I don’t think that’s always hyperbole, at least for America. To be sure, I wouldn’t go so far as to say these times are “like nothing we’ve ever seen before” in the history of the world.

But we are experiencing current events that are unsettling because we aren’t used to such things in our country. Maybe in other countries. Yes, authoritarian countries. And for that, there is a palpable fear in many places in American life.

I’m just back from a gathering of practitioners across the country in journalism, philanthropy, academia and the arts. The theme of the annual convening by the Knight Foundation was unquestionably the First Amendment, the state thereof, and our collective responsibility to protect it at a time when it feels very much in peril.

The program included emotional stories from people who have experienced the horrors of this moment. And that’s not hyperbole when you hear real, first-hand, vivid stories of being profiled and hassled by ICE for being a person of color, or for being a journalist covering protests in Minneapolis. Or someone who is both of color and a journalist. You might have heard about Don Lemon, the recognizable former CNN host, but maybe not Georgia Fort, to whom I refer.

It also validates this moment when you stop to think about the gravity of journalists being arrested or being kicked out of the largest government agency in the U.S. government for not signing an oath to report only what the government tells them to.

Merely writing these words, I fear, may cause controversy. And, anyway, what’s this have to do with Issue Media Group? We are not on the front lines of immigration enforcement protests nor covering the U.S. “war department.”

We travel in a different journalistic lane. We wholeheartedly respect and support these journalists, but we defer to their good and courageous work. We are sticking to another avenue right now because we think what also is needed in the news spectrum is local reporting on issues where we as a divided country might find common ground. Reporting that identifies not only problems but potential solutions. And doing it in local communities, where we can still constructively tackle challenges such as affordable housing, healthcare, sustainability, and even equity.

When the times feel bleak to many, we don’t want to deny that. But we do want to offer a little hope. Not that all the big concerns of our nation can be alleviated but that America is still an exceptional – and resilient – place. We seek to come alongside not only those who are suffering and fearful but those who are still hard at work moving communities forward.

That said, we all should remain keenly attuned to the ongoing threat to the First Amendment. There should be no disagreement on the importance of a strong First Amendment and that wholesale disparagement of journalists, blocking public access to the workings of our government, and arresting the professionals working in service to us all as the American public is antithetical to our democratic principles. We all must value a First Amendment that, in protecting the critical work of reporting the news, informing communities, and holding power to account, protects us all.