Letter: Anonymous sources a First Amendment right – Deseret News

President Donald J. Trump's call for the press to cease using anonymous sources is a blatant attack on the First Amendment. Without the ability to use anonymous sources to provide crucial information, it could seriously undermine the media's efforts to get to the bottom of major stories. Take Watergate, for example. An explosive story like that would have likely never broken in a country without protected media sources. By scaring away the Mark Felts of this world from aiding in the exposure of truth, we really do ourselves a disservice.

As veteran newsman Dan Rather once wrote, "A free and truly independent press fiercely independent when necessary is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy." In my opinion, a country that lacks a free press isn't much of a country. So for the sake of democracy and survival of liberty, President Trump's remarks and the subsequent exclusion of several mainstream media outlets from a White House briefing is something we all should be deeply concerned about.

Ryan Curtis

Salt Lake City

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Letter: Anonymous sources a First Amendment right - Deseret News