by Brita Hunegs
What does the public need to know? What does the public have a right to know? Who is it incumbent upon to make sure that what the public needs and should know gets to them?
These are questions that have been churning in my head as we enter a second month of rapid change inflicted by the novel coronavirus. The media’s role as the “4th Estate”, as Thomas Carlyle first coined what he saw as the press’s job as protecting the balance of democracy, is overtly apparent.
Even the Founding Fathers appreciated the importance of a free press. James Madison said, “a popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy.” Self-governance and a truly representative democracy are facilitated by access to knowledge.
But not all dissemination of information is created equal. It is important to distinguish between the act of spreading information handed down from officials, versus finding the information and getting the word out to the public. There is a difference between a conveyor of information versus an excavator of it. This dichotomy can be summed up as the “art of communication” versus the “machinery of communication,” as 20th century American philosopher, John Dewey, framed it.
The more questions that we ask, the more accurately we can triangulate the truth. This is especially pertinent to our current moment in time, when we are all facing down the crisis of a global pandemic with all-consuming implications, and with protruding tentacles that touch nearly every aspect of one’s life. Journalists are currently engaged in probing at the pandemic from many angles, from the government’s response to it, to creating resource guides, to making the dense scientific data digestible. Indicative of the press’s role in the wellbeing of the public health, the state I am currently in, Minnesota, included newsrooms on its list of “essential workplaces” under its Stay at Home guidance. Public information that is reliable and complete goes hand in hand with public health.
Sun Tribune columnist, Lori Sturdevant, said during a forum on April 30 that this is a moment for journalism to be lifted up and be held in esteem, “We can’t allow detrimental rumors to circulate that could adversely affect people’s health,” Sturdevant said.
A time when the public is more dependent than usual on what officials are telling them requires even more diligent oversight by reporters.
Additionally, the commitment to liberalism that has been the backbone of American foreign policy since World War I has infused the common zeitgeist with the notion that American moral authority should be taken as fact. But a muscle can only grow when put under stress and it is the job of the press to question that moral authority so that a more robust democracy can emerge.
Yet the idea that the government is always working on behalf of the greater good is a potent force and is often wielded, especially by the military, to curb transparency. The embedded press system that emerged during the Iraq War was the culmination of a historically contentious relationship between the military and the press. Although the two entities both see their missions as protecting the public, their modes of carrying out that goal can be contradictory. While the press works towards transparency, the Department of Defense puts parameters in place that can, for better or for worse, deter this.
Whether or not you conceive of the COVID-19 crisis as a war, there is no doubt that the virus is an enemy to the functioning of society. Right now, the press needs to continue to dedicate itself to documenting how this “enemy” is handled.
-30-