It would seem that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and our esteemed president slept through American history. Their abhorrent threats to the rights of a free press to report on a war of choice is a dangerous step on the road to totalitarianism.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, was a flawed human being who dismissed the “slanderous” reports of newspapers. But Jefferson’s view of a free press is worth remembering. Jefferson once wrote that he’d prefer “newspapers without government” to “government without newspapers.”

“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.” Jefferson wrote.

You may not like what they report, but America needs journalists now more than ever.

Debra Erdley Adams

Greensburg

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