The power of information

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

By Gary Trauner

In a previous column, I wrote about what role government should play in America. I’d like to take some time today to discuss the role of an equally important institution in our society today – the media.

The role of the media, or the press, has been that of a critical voice from the earliest stages of our country’s new democracy. The press savaged Thomas Jefferson during his Presidency, yet he remained a staunch believer in the necessity of a free and critical press.

In 1787, he wrote: “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” Later in his life, in 1816 and after taking a beating from newspapers, he still wrote, “The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.”

Jefferson knew that democracy is hard work. It requires citizens to pay attention and to be informed in order to make sometimes difficult decisions about the government that the citizenry elects to run our country. He also knew that all governments tend to hoard information, because information is what allows them to control ordinary people.

The lessons still hold to this day. What Jefferson was really saying is without an analytical media, without a skeptical and critical press that digs deep for truth and facts, the ability of our citizens to have the information they need to make smart and informed decisions is severely compromised.  And that, perhaps more than anything else, can put everything we’ve built over the past 230 years at risk.


There’s an old saying in politics – don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. So I want to be clear that this column is not meant to point fingers in any way. And it’s not sour grapes – there’s no attempt to place blame for the eventual outcome of my race (I came to grips with that a long time ago). However, if I took away one overriding lesson from that campaign, it is the importance, and current shortcomings, of the media in Wyoming and our society.

Though I knew that it would be a challenge to get our campaign message out in the media, frankly, I was not prepared for some of the difficulties we encountered. Perhaps one personal example will help: There can be no doubt that our country’s financial foundation has become less sound over the past 10 years, with huge spending increases, higher deficits, and irresponsible borrowing against our future; no one would call this “fiscal conservatism.” As a businessman, I know this track is wrong and must change.

My opponent last year talked tough, yet the simple fact is she has repeatedly voted for the bills that allowed this to happen. And yet, when I asked a national reporter who wrote an article why she wrote that my opponent is a “fiscal conservative,” her reply was telling.  The reporter answered, “Because that’s what she calls herself – isn’t it true?” This is just one of many disturbing encounters.

I didn’t ask for much from the members of the media who covered my race – only that they treat me fairly and with a critical eye – and do the same for my opponent as well. And make sure that their readers, viewers or listeners get the information they need to make an informed decision.

We are at a delicate time in our history. While there are still those who strive to get it right, all across the country we are besieged by certain media – TV, radio, Internet, newspapers – that has a specific pre-determined agenda instead of a desire to inform critically, factually and analytically. We cannot let this stand. Information is power, and in the grand experiment we call American Democracy, power should rest with the people.
PERMALINK:
The power of information | Planet JH News Article: Left Wing Local

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