If you ask most people about a free press, they’ll tell you they’re all for it. Most of the time they even mean it. But most people think about the free press all wrong, considering it only in terms of “The Press” – meaning only organized, paid journalists publishing work in traditional newspapers and news magazines.

Both the folks who claim to vigorously defend a free press and those who sneer at it share this myopic view. In doing so, they diminish the true and full power of the rights the First Amendment protects.

The truth is that every American is, by birthright and under the protection of the First Amendment, a journalist. There is no special professional qualification, knowledge, or training for being a journalist the way there is for being a doctor or a lawyer (although obviously the skills involved can be refined with mentoring and practice). There is no (thank God) government license required to engage in journalism, like there is to be a teacher or a nurse. And although there are obviously people who are much better at it than others, the mere act of adopting the label “journalist” doesn’t automatically make you a better writer, a more ethical person, or more fair or accurate in your reporting.

Never has this been more true than in the Internet era, but it’s always been so. We all share news with each other constantly – by word of mouth, in letters, in handbills, at town hall meetings, in newspapers, on blogs, on social media, etc. There is no such thing as “The Press” as a singular entity because in America, we’re all part of “The Press.” 

That includes politicians, by the way, who certainly do plenty of publishing these days. It’s so much easier now to set up your own website and email list serve in order to build a broader audience for your published works than it would have been for most small town newspapers to reach new readers at the beginning of the 19th century.

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Among the people who think small about “The Press” are, ironically, a great number of newspaper editors, including the many who got together – some might call it colluding, but that’s a loaded word – and published op-eds about how President Trump saying nasty things about them is a threat to democracy.

This is ridiculous.

Donald Trump has every right to speak his mind about the news media and to publish (or tweet) his thoughts about them. I’m not defending his rhetoric – calling reporters the “Enemy of the People” is stupid, offensive, and wrong, and it demonstrates a hostility to the First Amendment that is part of the reason I didn’t vote for him.

But while his words are absurd, Trump hasn’t actually been the threat I feared he might be to the free exchange of ideas or to the ability of his critics to criticize him vigorously. By historical standards, Trump is a powder puff — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both sought criminal prosecutions against journalists who pilloried them, and we somehow survived those two monsters of history.

There is no greater rebuttal to the idea that “The Press” is under siege than the fact so many newspapers feel perfectly comfortable heaping all manner of calumny – some well-earned, some unfair – upon a supposed tyrant fascist President. If Trump were the man – or if the nation he leads was the place – so many of his critics on the left argue is the case, they already would have been taken to The Wall, or to a gulag, or at least found their access to the Internet mysteriously restricted.

The only people I see actively attacking the First Amendment and/or the very concept of free speech these days are my friends on the left who mistakenly think they can constitutionally outlaw “hate speech” or prevent people from speaking as a group through a formal corporate organization or who cheer the “deplatforming” of various Internet personalities or who seek to ban or commit violence against right-leaning college campus speakers.

But criticizing the professional press? It’s healthy. (I recall a certain long-time political observer here in Nevada referring to a certain media outlet as a “newspaper,” scare quotes and all.) Most news reporters work hard to get facts right and be fair to the subjects of their stories, but even the best of them make mistakes. The national news media unquestionably lives in an ideological echo chamber, creating blind spots and hubris. Sometimes their mistakes are so glaring that it’s hard to chalk it up to simple error. And then we have really extreme cases, like Dan Rather, who today is busy sanctimoniously explaining how guys like him are the last thin bulwark against tyranny but who famously ended his own journalism career by maliciously peddling obvious forged documents in an attempt to alter the outcome of a presidential election. Threats to democracy indeed...

Trust in the news media was low before Trump became president. Ironically, the best way to turn that skepticism around is to embrace and welcome criticism from all sides, politicians included. When media outlets understand that they are merely one part of a huge, decentralized information sharing network, and not the anointed gatekeepers of that information, they themselves will wind up producing a superior product.

And the quality of the product, ultimately, is a far better defense of the news industry than all the indignant editorials in the world. What makes the Nevada Independent so extraordinary, and what makes me so proud to be a part of it, isn’t the mere fact that it publishes stories. It’s that the reporters are so diligent, ethical, talented, careful and thorough. The Indy’s success to date points to the hunger out there for this type of quality, depth, and ideological balance. We all may be “The Press,” but some purveyors of news are far, far better at it than others, and create tremendous value to their community. Bad journalism deserves to be exposed and even mocked, but the really good stuff (and there’s plenty of it to be had) ought to be praised and financially supported by all serious people across the political spectrum.

Because we are all “The Press” (politicians included), we can all benefit from this advice (politicians included). Quality of work matters, as does the ability to grow and learn.

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I think the mass editorial strategy against Trump will backfire, because there is nothing that signals the weakness of your ideas more than demanding that your critics be silent. This is a lesson politicians, too, must learn.

When the Adam Laxalt campaign sent the world’s stupidest email to the editor of this publication, attempting to prophylactically complain/issue absurd veiled threats about an upcoming story that wasn’t even about them, could there have been a more resounding announcement of their own insecurities? Every person in the Laxalt campaign who was involved in that fiasco should be fired for that little episode.

But that incident, too, shows the power and glory of a free press – sometimes our most effective lessons come from seeing the result of our ideas being published in the bright light of day. Every rookie politician will make mistakes if they make a habit of speaking out and sharing their ideas frequently and in detail, sometimes showing the less savory sides of their personalities. The ones who deserve to be, and stay, in power are those who continue to share ideas and engage with the rest of the press (professional and amateur) on a regular basis, even (perhaps especially) those outlets who will press and challenge them on the record. They are the ones who understand that not everyone who tells you what you want to hear is your friend, and not everyone who tells you things you don’t is your enemy. The weak will fall (Dan Rather was exposed by an independent blogger), and the quality folks will endure.

Our society is at its most free and prosperous when power is split and decentralized, with every node of power, public and private, feeling free to criticize the other robustly and often. Politicians, newspapers, bloggers, businesses large and small, social media ninjas, activist groups – all of them are sources of power who can and should share quality information with and about each other, enriching us all with the power of a truly free press.

Orrin Johnson has been writing and commenting on Nevada and national politics since 2007. He started with an independent blog, First Principles, and was a regular columnist for the Reno Gazette-Journal from 2015-2016. By day, he is a deputy district attorney for Carson City. His opinions here are his own. Follow him on Twitter @orrinjohnson, or contact him at [email protected].