Chapter 16

1)
Cronkite uses subjective reporting as he inserts his own opinions and his ideas on the issue.

This urges elected officials to respond by acting in popular ways or merely side-lining
troublesome, subjective reporters with unfriendly stances.

In the context of the passage, media serves as a linkage institution by relaying information on
the war to the public without government influence in the narrative.

2)
Both weekday and Sunday circulation declined from 2000-2010.

Weekday papers have been declining for longer than Sunday have. This is likely because of the
growing number of options that Americans have for media, leaving a smaller place for news in
their life thus relegating newspapers to Sundays.

The overall decline in newspaper circulation shows the growing variety of media options that
can entertain Americans, which goes hand-in-hand with the disengagement of Americans from
politics in general.

3)
The principle common to both Near v. Minnesota and New York Times Co. v. United States is
the freedom of press under the First Amendment.

In New York Times Co. v. United States, the New York Times was defending its right to publish
government documents despite attempts from the Nixon Administration to block it by claiming
national security concerns. In Near v. Minnesota, Near was publishing untrue content which the
government tried to block in the public interest. The essential difference in these cases is the
truthfulness of what was being published and the reasons for attempts at limiting it.

If a libelous or offensive article is published, someone could write to that paper, publish an op-
ed in that paper or others, sue them, and make a public campaign to dissuade the public from
whatever falsehoods may have been published.

4) Is a free press essential to democracy?

Though some may point to biased press and untruthful stories, a free press is truly
essential to democracy as was laid out by the founders.

In the effort to stop the ratification of the Constitution, some staunch anti-federalists
launched campaigns to sway public opinion by voicing concerns of an oppressive government.
 Chapter 16

Some of these concerns were voiced in the paper Brutus no. 1 which argued that a republic in
such a large country would never work and that an executive would have too much power. Free
press helps to alleviate each of these issues by providing truthful, uninhibited news to people
around the country and by allowing the press to act (unregulated) as a watchdog over the
government to prevent tyrannical leaders and ensure access to information for all.

In response to the concerns of Brutus and others, the founders included the First
Amendment to protect free speech, religion, and press. This sealed the right in our founding
document and has ensured for the last 200 years that access to information is uninhibited and
that press is able to report directly to the public without fear of retaliation.

Even so, some people have concerns over malicious and profit-driven media which place
their self-interests above democracy. However, cases like those described are negligible. The
truth is that we've seen the opposite. In the case of New York Times v. United States, the New
York Times tried to release government documents providing classified details of the Vietnam
War, and the Nixon Administration in turn sued to silence the press by claiming the need to
manage the war. Attempts like this show how important it is to protect a free press and to
ensure information can reach the American public without censorship from the government as
it is essential to our informed electorate and our very democracy.