Jefferson on News

(Photo via sovereignindependentuk.co.uk)

Which one does the general public deserve more? A ruling government or a freed newspaper?

Our government and newspapers has a very special relationship. Sometimes they work together, but other times they become enemies of each other. According to the SPJ Code of Ethics, the rules of journalism, journalists have been given the task to provide the most honest and credible reports of everything they see. All of this would not have been possible if the First Amendment did not exist, which guarantees the public with freedom of speech. Although social media is rising, newspapers still takes on an important role in our daily life that social media cannot.

(Photo via qrcodetracking.com)

News is an essential part of daily life. News not only provides people the information they need to stay alert of potential dangers (i.e. crimes, disaster, and weather reports), but also it provides context for our daily conversations (i.e. gossips, entertainment, sports, government). Thomas Jefferson said, "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." From this quote, we can conclude that Thomas Jefferson supported the idea of public access to newspapers and the right to be informed, which is guaranteed by the right of free speech. He valued people's rights to be informed over having a government. This opinion has much to do with the fact that the United States is a democratic country, which means every eligible citizen has equal rights to participate in the government's decisions. If people are not informed well-enough about what is going on across the nation or our relationships with foreign countries, how will we be able to participate in government's decision making, or have a say in anything that the government does? This is why some people even referred to the newspapers as the "Fourth Estate". Newspapers keep us updated about our surroundings so we know if the government needs to step in on some issues. It helps us check-and-balance if the government's ruling aligns with the majority's interest. Therefore, it is important not only to protect our rights to free speech, but also the newspaper's rights to keep us informed.

(Photo via Mashable.com)

If it were not for free speech, social media is probably impossible because people will not be able to communicate their thoughts freely as they would through tweets and Facebook status. The main purpose of social media is connecting people by different means. However, in the era of social media, people are slowly moving their conversations about news to this new creative panel. Jefferson's quote shows that he wanted people to stay informed and be able to discuss freely among themselves regardless of the government's opinions. Social media provides a panel that does that. However, studies show that people are less likely to discuss government-related topics on social media than they would in real conversations. I think that is because social media is still running on the idea of connecting people instead of a panel for serious topics like politics. This concludes that social media, although has slowly rises as a informal news outlets, it still cannot replace newspapers as the main news outlet. However, Jefferson's thoughts on newspapers are still true in today's world. People still discuss politics in face-to-face conversations like Jefferson envisioned, which is only made available because newspapers exist.

Thomas Jefferson supported a world with newspapers over a ruling government because people have the right to know. This activity is still being practiced today and might be altered as people slowly transfers social media as their news outlet. However, newspapers as of now are still the main news source when it comes to serious matters like politics. 

Works Cited:

Benzinga. "Study Finds Social Media Is Slowly Burying Newspapers and Network News." NASDAQ.com. NASDAQ, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 06 Sept. 2014.

"Democracy" Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 05 Sep. 2014. <Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/>.

Miller, Claire Cain. "How Social Media Silences Debate." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2014. Web. 06 Sept. 2014.

"Thomas Jefferson Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2014.