Our Secretary of Defense doesn’t seem to have read the Constitution. Or, if he did, he must’ve either skipped the part about the free press or he didn’t understand it. Pete Hegseth criticized the press in a speech Friday and insisted that their headlines should not represent what is true about the war in Iran but should only say patriotic things.
Clearly, his time working for what purports to be a news organization did nothing for his understanding of the role of the press. The press does not exist to glorify the administration. The press exists to report on the administration. Reporters are not there to write patriotic statements, they are there to report on what is happening.
A free press is vital to the life of our democracy. Authoritarians demand patriotism in their “news”. Real Americans do not.
Amy Weeks
Columbia Falls