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Journalism & American History Document A: An excerpted letter from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, a delegate to the

Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788. This letter was written in 1787 from Paris, where Jefferson

observed France moving toward the French Revolution of 1789.

“The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these

to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only

safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give

them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers

should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the

people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and 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. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable

of reading them.”

→ Source: http://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/302

Document B: An excerpted letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, a newspaper editor and one of

the first Senators from the state of Michigan. Jefferson is writing on June 14th, 1807 after enduring the

oversight of the press from inside the White House.

“To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as

to be most useful, I should answer, “by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.” Yet I fear such

a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not

more completely deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's abandoned prostitution to

falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by

being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those

who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with

commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the

belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time; whereas the

accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the

present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables.”

→ Source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.038_0592_0594/?sp=1&st=text

Journalism & American History (1) According to Jefferson in document A, what is the “ideal” of the Free Press / Independent Journalism in American democracy? Explain.

(2) According to Jefferson in document B how does the reality of the Free Press / Independent Journalism relate to the “ideal” he spoke of in document A ?

(3) How does Jefferson’s perspective in document B resonate with the perspective of Donald Trump with regard to the role of the Free Press in American Society? Explain.

Journalism & American History Document C: In his famous 1910 speech “Citizenship in a Republic,” Theodore Roosevelt presented in

some detail his views of government, civilization, and virtue. Among other things, Roosevelt commented

on the role of journalists and journalism within society. With a press that had not long ago been

dominated by the sensationalism of the Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers, Roosevelt commented on the

damage journalists could deal to democratic discourse, and the service to the public interest they could

render.

“Of course all that I say of the orator applies with even greater force to the orator's latter-day and

more influential brother, the journalist. The power of the journalist is great, but he is entitled neither to

respect nor admiration because of that power unless it is used aright. He can do, and often does, great

good. He can do, and he often does, infinite mischief. All journalists, all writers, for the very reason that

they appreciate the vast possibilities of their profession, should bear testimony against those who deeply

discredit it. Offenses against taste and morals, which are bad enough in a private citizen, are infinitely

worse if made into instruments for debauching the community through a newspaper. Mendacity, slander,

sensationalism, inanity, vapid triviality, all are potent factors for the debauchery of the public mind and

conscience. The excuse advanced for vicious writing, that the public demands it and that demand must be

supplied, can no more be admitted than if it were advanced by purveyors of food who sell poisonous

adulterations. In short, the good citizen in a republic must realize that they ought to possess two sets of

qualities, and that neither avails without the other. He must have those qualities which make for

efficiency; and that he also must have those qualities which direct the efficiency into channels for the

public good. He is useless if he is inefficient. There is nothing to be done with that type of citizen of

whom all that can be said is that he is harmless. Virtue which is dependant upon a sluggish circulation is

not impressive. There is little place in active life for the timid good man…

… But if a man's efficiency is not guided and regulated by a moral sense, then the more efficient

he is the worse he is, the more dangerous to the body politic. Courage, intellect, all the masterful qualities,

serve but to make a man more evil if they are merely used for that man's own advancement, with brutal

indifference to the rights of others. It speaks ill for the community if the community worships these

qualities and treats their possessors as heroes regardless of whether the qualities are used rightly or

wrongly. It makes no difference as to the precise way in which this sinister efficiency is shown. It makes

no difference whether such a man's force and ability betray themselves in a career of money-maker or

politician, soldier or orator, journalist or popular leader. If the man works for evil, then the more

Journalism & American History successful he is the more he should be despised and condemned by all upright and far-seeing men. (“The

Man in the Arena” pp. 9-10)

1. According to Roosevelt, what potential does the American Journalist have to impact society? What,

then - as a citizen of a republic - is the responsibility of the journalist in Roosevelt’s view? Explain.

2. How does Roosevelt address the argument that “bad” journalism is the product of public demand?

Based on the contemporary news climate, do you agree or disagree with Roosevelt?