-The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, 1787
It’s fitting to restart this blog with the First Amendment to the Constitution. Not only because my graduate school, Newhouse at Syracuse University, has chosen to engrave it on the side of their newest building, but because it speaks to the importance the founders placed on our right to speak freely, practice our traditions, and criticize the government.
Not every country enjoys these rights equally. For example, in Turkey, the government regulates speech by making it a crime to speak ill of Ataturk (the country’s founder), the Turkish nation, or “Turkishness.”
Many journalists have been imprisoned due to this rule, although the situation has improved as Turkey inches closer to the E.U. You Tube is also banned because of this law. (For my reporting from Turkey, visit The Turk Film Project.)
Now, I’m back in the U.S. and ready to begin my next chapter.
Over the next year and a half, I hope to find and report on informative stories at the highest level I’m capable of. Some will argue that journalists are obsolete, that bloggers and the “open forum” are better and more capable news gatherers.
I agree that the internet and all its glory has added a great deal to society’s knowledge base. But,
I still believe that our country (and the world) require persons who have not devoted there lives to an issue, but to the practice of information gathering. A practice that involves its own code of ethics, and seeks to take complex information and present that information in a receivable way to the widest audience.
The framers of the Constitution understood the power of news and its importance to an informed democracy. They made sure the pathways for its dissemination were kept clear.
Journalism is for the people. As a reporter, I work for the people.
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| Newhouse 3 at Syracuse University proudly displays the First Amendment |
2 comments:
Matt, I like your statement of principle and admire your belief in the continuing need for professional, independent-minded journalists to inform and work for "the people" -- especially important in any nation that aspires to be a democracy. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Jim. The world needs credible people writing with accuracy and balance.
Another standard to live by for me comes from Edward R. Murrow,
"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful."
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