We at the Register do not believe it is our job to tell our readers what to think, but to give them the information they need to make up their own minds. We have not written an editorial for years, but what is going on now strikes at the very heart of what we do as journalists and we feel we need to say something.
Rümeysa Öztürk was detained by ICE for publishing in the Tufts Daily an op-ed on the war in Gaza. Mohsen Mahdawi was detained for pro-Gaza protesting at Columbia. Both of these students had visas that legally gave them the same constitutional rights as American citizens prior to detainment.
Many argue that actions seen as suppressing First Amendment rights are actually efforts to restore balance, neutrality and national security. They say that restrictions are sometimes needed to protect America from foreign influence and to preserve our traditional values – especially from places like universities and big tech companies that they believe are censoring them.
But what we are seeing today is not a rebalancing, it is an attempt to eliminate our right to free speech.
Rümeysa Öztürk was pulled off the street by masked men for writing her opinions in a newspaper. This sets a dangerous precedent for those who seek the truth and report on it. It is a scare tactic and it appears to be a part of a larger trend.
The Associated Press, one of the most trusted non-partisan and non-profit news cooperatives, was barred from the White House for not adhering to Trump’s executive order to call the Gulf of Mexico “The Gulf of America”. Trump has continually called the press “the enemy of the American people”. Trump’s Justice Department secretly seized Washington Post and CNN phone and email records.
Trump’s executive order, which supposedly aims at “Restoring Free Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” was called out by disinformation experts who warn “the move will only further the spread of false information on social media.”
The freedom of the press is essential to a working democracy. Since the founding of this country, journalists have broken stories that sway the public, bring down corrupt politicians, change government, and change policies. Ida B. Wells conducted an incredible anti-lynching campaign, Woodward and Bernstein forced President Nixon to resign, Ida Tarbell’s reporting resulted in the Supreme Court breaking Standard Oil into 34 companies, The Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team revealed the Catholic Church Abuse. The list goes on and on.
The PRESS Act is a bill working to protect journalists, but it has been sitting dormant in the Senate since June 2023. It prohibits all coercion by the federal government to reveal sources, documents, or other records, with the exception of preventing terrorism or imminent violence. Though this doesn’t solve detainment issues and these after – the – fact threatening tactics, it casts a stronger safety net. Or at least, it would, if it was passed.
But we don’t have to wait for Congress. Congress only represents the people. We are the people.
The First Amendment protects the right to free speech and the press fundamentally, and does so mostly so that citizens are able to push back against government abuses. It is the ultimate check and balance, because the government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We are the people. This sentence is not just some arbitrary hashtag, but the basis of our government.
In 2017 Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the Harvey Weinstein story. They told stories of women and the #MeToo movement gained momentum. When women began to see they are not alone, others rose up in support and solidarity. This is a country of 340 million people. We are the farthest from alone we could be.
We all have a voice. We all have the freedom to speak truth to power. We all can be journalists. We are the people.
