Constant attacks on press chip away at 1st Amendment – The Intelligencer

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, and ensures that there is no prohibition on the free exercise of religion, no abridging the freedom of speech, no infringing on the freedom of the press, no interfering with the right to peaceably assemble, and no prohibition against the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

I am becoming more and more alarmed at the present administrations attack on our sacred First Amendment rights. I preface this letter with this amendment because I feel few Americans know or even care about the words contained within it.

During the most recent presidential campaign, and most glaringly in the first month of this administration, a constant demonizing of the press and the inference that the press cannot be trusted are becoming more unnerving every day. Recently, White House press secretary Sean Spicer spun his press conference restriction of not inviting four high-profile news outlets, stating that the room was "just too small." President Trump revealed in a tweet not one hour later that the press restriction was due to Trumps personal belief that these outlets reports fake news or are failing.

Clearly, Trump is seeking to control the press corps, limiting it to those he believes will write the news he wants written. No other president in modern history has attempted to squash the press like this.

Republican Sen. John McCain said in a recent interview with Chuck Todd of Meet the Press, "I hate the press. I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital." The Arizona senator, who was just re-elected to another six-year term, added that in order to preserve democracy, a free and many times adversarial press is essential. Thats how dictators get started, he continued. They get started by suppressing a free press; in other words, a consolidation of power. When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press.

This constant attack on the press is the first step at the chipping away of our First Amendment and our democracy. We live in a 24/7 social media culture. It is our responsibility to weigh carefully what is said and videotaped and then held up against the untruths that seem to follow. We cannot become indifferent or complacent when a threat such as this occurs.

Kathleen Afflerbach

Quakertown

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Constant attacks on press chip away at 1st Amendment - The Intelligencer