Each week the editorial board reflects on a current issue in Our View. The position taken does not reflect the opinions of everyone on the Hilltop Views staff. This week’s editorial board is composed of Viewpoints Editors Sully Lockett and Kenny Phipps.  

In the words of President James Madison, Virginian statesman, revolutionary and namesake of a fair-to-middling sized college, “popular government without popular information” can only lead to farce or tragedy. Any political science textbook describes “alternate sources of information” as a foundational tenet of democracy. Former President George W. Bush recently described the press as “indispensable to democracy.”

Why then, does our current president and his administration insist upon labeling reputable, established organizations such as The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN, among others, as “fake news?” Or, more alarmingly still, “enemies of the people,” a phrase much loved by governments in places where democracy thrives like North Korea or the old Soviet Union.  

This isn’t a partisan issue. This is a conflict pitting the very citizens of the country against an administration that seems intent on acting against the wishes of many of its constituents at best and in a manner that will bring direct and lasting harm to the country at worst. The actions and rhetoric of the Trump administration concerning the news media in past weeks should be very troubling.

Bush is absolutely correct in saying that independent journalism is crucial to the survival of democracy. Without the news media, the American people will not have any sources of information other than those which the administration deems satisfactory.

No administration should be granted this power. A restriction of access to alternative sources of information is not only undemocratic but also contrary to the very notion of what it means to be American. Without a government that can be challenged by the media when it goes against the wishes of the people, we run the risk of becoming the very sort of corrupt dictatorship so many Americans have given their lives fighting against for centuries.

The fourth estate, the media, must have the access and authority to operate independently of the government. The freedom of the press is the single most important institutional check on tyranny. Without it, the American people will be left in the dark, unable to hold those who wield power accountable. As the Washington Post’s new slogan states, “democracy dies in darkness.”

The most recent infraction on this most American of values came Feb. 24, when Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary and professional Melissa McCarthy doppelganger, barred journalists from the Times and other supposed “fake news” organizations from attending a press briefing. At the same briefing, the White House allowed access to ‘news’ organizations which have proven willing to kowtow directly to the whims of the administration, justifying its excesses and making up information to support the president’s claims.  

This is a very slippery slope that the administration is embarking upon. Today, journalists are labeled “dishonest” for reporting accurate information that reflects poorly on the president. Tomorrow, their work is outlawed or they are jailed, a tactic used by every authoritarian in the name of national security, patriotism or any other number of vague terms that are almost impossible to dispute.

One of the most direct and visible indicators of the intentions of a government is how it treats its media, as we see every day across the world in countries whose aspirations lean toward direct, undemocratic and uncontested control of their citizens.

Support local and international journalism. The truth matters. Facts matter. Facing the adversity of the federal establishment, journalists and the news media are going to have a difficult task ahead of them: continuing to uphold American values. Especially when the President seems intent on directly contradicting them.