In defense of the Fourth Estate

Dear Editor,

It is clear from his statements and actions since inauguration that we have a president who is intent on retribution against his enemies. The litmus test for being on his team seems to be belief that the 2020 election was stolen, and complete fealty to Trump and all of his statements no matter how farfetched.

In addition, the people behind him are using his knack for showmanship to basically take apart every aspect of government. He has given unprecedented access to the mechanism and finances of government to an unelected team lead by the richest man on earth. Their actions are likely illegal, and multiple lawsuits are pending that have placed a pause on many of them, but much damage has already been done.

Of major concern is the multi-pronged attack on the media. Trump’s attempt to rewrite the history of January 6, 2021 by constantly haranguing his supporters with lies and obfuscation is only a starting point for controlling the way he wants people to think about our country. He has pardoned the criminals who violently attacked the Capitol police, describing the events as a day of peace and love. The more his lies are repeated, the more some people will begin to believe them. George Orwell’s description of newspeak in the novel 1984 comes to mind.

As worrisome is MAGA’s coordinated attempt to control the narrative by attacking the media. Trump already has major support from X, Elon Musk’s social media company, and Mark Zuckerberg has fallen in line with him, pledging huge sums of money to his cause in an attempt to protect Facebook from MAGA’s gun sights. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, the paper that gave us the courageous stories exposing Watergate.

Trump has sued ABC who settled out of court for a huge sum. He is suing CBS for 10 billion dollars because he wasn’t pleased with their reporting. He is suing Gannett enterprises who own the Des Moines Register because, for crying out loud, they reported a poll putting Kamala Harris ahead of Trump, even though he ended up winning Iowa. He is threatening PBS with stopping federal funding, even though 80% of Americans approve of supporting public broadcasting. News organizations are being pushed out of their office space if they don’t toe the MAGA party line.

These moves seem to be those of a crazy man, but we should not be deceived. News organizations are often called the 4th estate, for the very reason that reporting the actual truth is the only defense we really have against totalitarianism. We are in a real crisis. The press organizations know that they could be tied up forever and bankrupted by frivolous lawsuits, so they settle out of court. PBS could be crippled without the 15% of their budget that come from federal grants.

We should be thankful for our local, state and national newspapers that are trying to present factual news. We may not always agree with their editorial positions but we should fight like hell ( to use Trump’s language) for what’s left of their independence.

Sincerely yours,

Paul Biere

Dodgeville, WI