Tara’s Takes
Lao Tzu said “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The journey to protect the freedom of the press is neverending. However, on Tuesday, a single step was finally taken. While the fight is far from over and I truly believe those not in the journalism field need education about how dire the situation could turn, we’ve taken a step in the right direction.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered the White House to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events, affirming on First Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech.
“Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”
If you missed my previous column on this topic, President Donald Trump barred AP reporters and journalists from covering Trump in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One and has also given sporadic ability to cover him at events in the East Room since Feb. 11. The cause of this treatment, is the AP still refers to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico, not the Gulf of America.
The point is, Trump signed an order and changed the name. The AP is a worldwide news organization and the Gulf of Mexico is still referred to as the Gulf of Mexico across the world, except here under Trump. Natalie’s legal name is Natalie. Per calls her “shmat” or “shmatalie.” I have paperwork that says I ordered her name to be Natalie. Per chooses to call her something else.
When he calls her the nickname, everyone around us knows to whom he is referring. I don’t ban him from seeing her if he doesn’t call her Natalie. She even likes the nickname.
While this is a much simpler example than the Gulf of Mexico/America. The fact is that Trump’s decision to treat journalists different and ban some from doing their job is a violation of the Constitution, something Presidents are expected to uphold.
Now, once the ruling from Judge McFadden was handed down, Trump did not immediately welcome the AP staff with open arms. Actually, shortly after the ruling, an AP reporter and photographer were turned away from joining a motorcade with the White House press pool to cover Trump’s appearance before the National republican Congressional Committee. I personally wasn’t surprised by this.
And technically, he didn’t have to allow them to cover him as the ruling gave the government one week to implement. The issue isn’t an issue about what to call the gulf. This issue is about Freedom of the Press. This is a constitutional issue that everyone, not just journalists, need to take notice of.
First, if this president is allowed to pick and choose what parts of the Constitution he will uphold and the standards to which he needs to follow the law, the precedent is set for all future presidents, Republican or Democratic. If you believe in the right to bear arms and a future president doesn’t agree, nope, sorry.
If freedom of religion is important to you and we are allowing our administration to pick and choose parts of the Constitution to protect, sorry, you’re out of luck.
The Freedom of the Press is important to more than just the small weekly newspaper owner. Freedom of the Press allows journalists to do their jobs and be a watchdog for our country.
We are all busy. We have jobs here. We are trying to keep up with our kids’ schedules, figure out how much we have for groceries this week and if the tariffs are affecting us. We do not have time to follow the president or elected officials. We rely on journalists to make sure those elected officials are doing their jobs, and if they are not to report on it.
This is not only at the national level. Per and I cover many, many meetings in which we are the only member of the public there. We follow what our elected officials at the local level say and the decisions that are being made. We report those decisions in our paper. This allows people in our area to spend Monday nights at home with their families or running to activities instead of sitting in a city council of school board meeting.
This isn’t saying that the community doesn’t think what our officials are doing isn’t important, but they can’t always be there. They rely on journalists to report the news. People often joke to Per that he is everywhere. What happens if he quit going? What happens if Jeff decided that he didn’t like something Per wrote and barred him from covering Tracy City Council? Of course, that wouldn’t happen. If it did, we’d be screaming about open meeting law.
However, that isn’t guaranteed in every community. Not every community has a Per who is the definition of a workaholic and would never let a meeting pass without some kind of presence.
The Freedom of the Press is a constitutional amendment for a reason. Even at that time, our founding fathers understood the importance of if. Yes, the ruling underscores the importance of the Freedom of the Press. I am well aware that this is just one very, very small step in protecting it. I am also aware that Trump will probably continue to do what he wants. But as voters and members of this country, we all need to hold every elected official to the highest standards when it comes to protecting the constitution.
Here’s hoping that we continue to move forward in this never ending battle.
