By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Watchdog. I just love that word. It embodies caring, monitoring, being watchful – like the unheralded role of guardian. In our representative democracy, the free press serves as a watchdog. They investigate actions by the government at all levels, expose corruption, report bad actors and bad actions – and do so without fear of reprisal because of Constitutional protections. It’s right there in The Bill of Rights, the First Amendment to the US Constitution. By exercising this responsibility, they provide citizens with facts, so that informed choices can be made.
It’s really not unusual for President’s to get annoyed with the press. There probably isn’t one in our history that hasn’t tried in some way to silence the press, after all they are so powerful that they want things told to the public the way they want them told. These are all very smart people, and so they know the value of the Free Press in our society, yet they still want what they want – and that is always to gain and hold power. Per the New York Times, Nixon once said during National Newspaper Week – in a formal proclamation – “the freedom of the press is one of the proudest and most zealously guarded aspects of our national heritage.” Yet words and actions don’t always match up. He did his best to stop the publishing of The Pentagon Papers, and well, then there was Watergate, and he was declaring “the Press is the enemy.”
Now we have President Trump. Oh, do we have him. Last week he pushed back harshly against three news organizations – Politico, MS Now (formerly MSNBC), and CNN – barring them from The White House. It seemed like only a nanosecond later and US District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, and was confirmed to the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a 49-2 vote, called Trump’s actions “likely unconstitutional.” It’s nothing new – extreme behavior is Trump’s norm. The Center for American Progress claims that in this term alone over 200 Trump policies and executive orders have been blocked by federal judges being deemed as likely unconstitutional.
A week ago, this past Sunday, idly scrolling the television lineup before church, I came across the ABC program – This Week with George Stephanopolis, and heard something that caught my attention. The host, Jonathan Carl, asked a panelist, “Why should Americans care about whether news organizations are allowed into The White House?” Frank Luntz – a political and communications consultant and pollster – replied, “It’s really not about what happens to the press. It’s about what happens to – the people. And it’s more than just their right – it’s actually about their responsibility. One of my greatest concerns about democracy right now is that not enough people are paying attention, following the details, knowing the facts, and knowing the truth. And anything that interrupts that delivery of truth from your profession to the American people should be opposed.”
His use of the word – responsibility – in terms of people’s participation in our democracy, is not something we hear about every day. Do we take it for granted? We all know that we have a legal responsibility to respond to a summons for jury duty that shows up in our mailbox, and to follow national, state, and local laws. When we run afoul of that legal responsibility, we find out really quick. But that is legal, what about moral responsibility to participate in our democracy? There is a difference between legal obligations and civic duties, or voluntary civic responsibilities.
The Colleges of Law, at the University of California, published an article the day after Christmas last year, titled, “Freedom Isn’t Free: Why Democracy Demands an Informed and Engaged Citizenry.” The author is Constitutional Law Professor Jiae Moon, J.D., his article can be read here https://www.collegesoflaw.edu/2025/12/26/freedom-isnt-free-democracy-informed-engaged-citizenry. “The bottom line is that America must reframe our understanding of what it means to be a citizen. Our rights are not passive entitlement, but an active obligation to be taken seriously. That means reading primary sources, starting with the Constitution itself, factchecking claims we see in the media, serving on juries, voting in every election, and respecting the rights of others, even those with whom we disagree. Most of all, it means demanding stronger civic education from our schools and communities.”
We now live in a time when trying to stay informed is a tremendous challenge. Starting in the 1980’s, accelerating in the 1990’s, by the 2010’s – 90 percent of mainstream media organizations were owned by just six companies, per The Atlantic. Watching most news channels today it is unclear if they exist to provide news or are they platforms that include news while primarily existing to generate revenue. The challenge for consumers – for voters trying to learn the facts – is compounded by misinformation and disinformation. And when certain people put themselves and their selfish and greedy interests over the voters – when they try to drench the citizens in their own versions of the truth, our democracy suffers. Have Americans now reached the point where we will redouble our obligations to our democracy?
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