In addition to being the revolutionaries who demanded independence from Great Britain and the visionaries who drafted the Constitution, many of America’s Founding Fathers were journalists. Some owned and published newspapers, others wrote for them, but all understood the value of a free press to a fledgling democratic republic.
That’s worth a bit of reflection over the Independence Day holiday. While the First Amendment protects the rights of journalists from government interference, hostility to the media — including threats, intimidation and acts of violence — runs counter to the nation’s founding principles and if unchecked will make for a less-informed public and government run amok.
Five years ago this week, a man walked into the newsroom of The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, and opened fire, killing five members of the newspaper staff and injuring two others. It remains the deadliest act of violence against American journalists.
