Thomas Jefferson got it right

by Peg O'Connell, political analyst and NC SPIN panelist, August 16, 2018.

I was never a real journalist.  I took a few journalism classes, wrote for my high school and college newspapers and write the occasional news release for a client or a friend in need.  But I was never the type of professional journalist who commits his or her life to the pursuit of truth, brining information to the people so that they may make the informed decisions so essential to the operation of our representative form of government.  These are the real pros and I salute them.

I am grateful for their innate curiosity and dedication and for their willingness to stick their necks out and be willing to question the powerful and hold them to account.  I was grateful (although not always happy) for them even when they wrote or broadcast uncomplimentary things about my late husband, Insurance Commissioner Jim Long.  Jim was a good public servant and he had a thick skin. He could take it because he understood the important role that journalism plays in maintaining our democracy.

Today is the day that newspaper editorial writers across the county are pushing back against our current chief executive’s attacks on the free press.  I want to add my voice to theirs and to the chorus of Americans who believe strongly in the First Amendment and to the absolute need for a robust and vigilant media as a check on power.

Thomas Jefferson, our third president said that if he had to choose between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” I agree with Mr. Jefferson.  He is one chief executive that got it right.

Thank you to all of you in the Fourth Estate.