Free to speak: FCC proposal a sign this government bears watching

You probably did not pay the announcement much mind.

After all, who cares what the Federal Communications Commission -- the FCC, for short -- does, you might say. Its decisions do not really affect the general public anyway. Right?

So when you heard the audible gasp from the press in this country when it was announced that the FCC was considering sending "monitors" into the nation's newsrooms to check on how information is processed and disseminated, you probably just shook your head at yet another bureaucratic waste of money.

But it was so much more than that. It was the first step of a direct assault on one of the most important components of the freedom we enjoy in this country -- a free press and the right to free speech.

The media are called the Fourth Estate for a reason. The job of every newspaper, television station and other outlet is to keep an eye on those in power and to expose not only what they are doing in their meetings and what they say in public, but also the back door negotiations and less than honorable deals that can sometimes occur where power is concentrated. Our job is to keep politicians -- all politicians -- and those who serve the people honest.

The founding fathers set up this nation that way to make sure no one's quest for influence and power trumped the rights of the people to govern themselves. The media are supposed to be their voice and the freedom's champions.

That cannot be done if government is given the right to intrude upon that process.

Forget that media companies are privately owned and that the government should have no right to mess in any of the decision-making that goes on inside of their offices.

Forget the absolute impossibility of coming up with a measurable determination of what is right or wrong when it comes to the free expression of ideas in a public marketplace.

Forget that there are more important things the government could be doing.

The bottom line is, this is a direct assault on free speech, free expression of ideas and the free press, which are the hallmarks of this country.

And that is why you should care very much what the FCC does.

Look around the world. What do most countries admire about the U.S.?

Freedom. The right to a free election in which the people pick their leaders -- and have the option to toss them in a few years if they have not lived up to their promises. The right to speak up and to have your say about any issue -- even if the government does not agree. The right to assemble. The right to criticize your leadership.

It is shocking how many countries do not enjoy those same advantages.

Freedom requires protection -- and that begins with keeping government in its place. Keeping bureaucratic hands and political maneuvering out of the free exchange of ideas is critical if we really are going to have a watchdog on what goes on in Washington and in any other form of government.

If anything, we should be finding ways to allow more access to information and more ways for the press and the public to ask questions, to raise red flags and to lead discussions about the issues of the day.

So while you might have some mixed feelings about the media, there is no ambiguity about how you should feel about this proposal and any other manifestation of it.

Government officials should be able to be part of the discussions and to expound on their views on key issues of the day, but no one, and we mean no one, should be able to stop, to control or to limit public questioning of those ideas and decisions.

That is a right that belongs to all of us -- and that no government should be allowed to put asunder.

Published in Editorials on February 22, 2014 11:40 PM