Ross’s view: The First Amendment and anonymous sources – The Daily News of Newburyport

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This is the First Amendment to our Constitution and it is first because it embodies the most important principles of a free country, and our founding fathers viewed the institutionalization of these principles as the highest priority for our new nation.

Political leaders who seek to curb and intimidate the press from exercising its First Amendment rights are usually driven by either a thin-skinned persona that makes them recoil at public criticism, or the need to hide the truth about something that the press is investigating and reporting.

In Donald Trump, it seems we have a president who wants to silence our free press and control the narrative about him for both reasons. First, his blatant need for adoration and applause reveals him to be an insecure egomaniac who angers at anything negative said about him. Second, and more importantly, his efforts to discredit press reports relating to all things relating to the Russia investigation suggests he and/or his team have something to hide.

Thankfully, his calculated characterization of segments of the media as purveyors of fake news and congressional investigations as witch hunts has emboldened rather than discouraged reporters and politicians of conscience to dig deeper. They understand that preserving our First Amendment rights is more important to our country than preserving a Trump presidency that threatens those rights.

Trumps relentless attacks on the Washington Post and New York Times, specifically, and the media generally, are part of a strategy to redirect the publics attention from the story being reported to the source of the reporting. Trump wants his foolish tweet attacks on the media to be the story that activates his base. Unfortunately for him, while his tweets may play well to those who cheer him at his contrived rallies, those folks do not get to vote again until 2020, and he has a big job to do, and a lot to answer for, in the interim.

In his effort to redirect public attention away from the Russia investigation and all things related, Trump attacks the anonymous sources of damaging facts reported in the press, and calls for the prosecution of these leakers. Most reasonable people will agree that the leaking of classified information that potentially compromises our security and/or any military operations should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The Julian Assanges and Chelsea Mannings of the world will find no comfort here. However, it is very different when someone working in the White House tells the press that the president gave the Russian ambassador classified information during their meeting, and chortled that his firing of FBI Director James Comey takes the heat off. That anonymous source is doing our country a service by alerting us to behavior by our president that breaches the trust of a valuable ally, and fuels/justifies concerns about his relationship with our primary adversary.

If an FBI employee has knowledge of documents that show Trump asked the since-fired FBI director to back off his investigation of Michael Flynn, shouldnt that information come to light? Shouldnt we know if our president is acting improperly, if not criminally? Trumps fragile ego, combined with his prior role as an iron-fisted leader of a private company, prevent him from understanding that his title does not empower him to stop concerned citizens from talking to the press about bad acts committed by public servants.

White House staffers who anonymously leak information to the press do so at great risk. If a newspaper reveals their identity, or they are otherwise uncovered as a source, they would face humiliation, the loss of their job, and their ability to provide the public valuable information. That would also discourage others in government who believe the public should have important facts about a controversial/important subject. The simple truth is that if newspapers reveal their sources, no one will talk to them.

As president of the United States, Trump is the most scrutinized person in the world. There is no excuse for him not understanding that, and his accountability to all Americans. If he cant take that heat, he does not belong in the kitchen.

Richard Ross mediates real estate and business-related disputes and resides in Amesbury.

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Ross's view: The First Amendment and anonymous sources - The Daily News of Newburyport