Today is a holiday I would have missed but for a timely press release that crossed my desk. May 3 is World Press Freedom Day.

        Considering the line of work I am in, that is roughly akin to Santa Claus forgetting about Christmas until somebody sent him a Season's Greetings. Although, judging by the kind of mail I usually get, it is pretty obvious that very few people mistake me for Santa Claus.

        World Press Freedom Day follows hard on the heels of Law Day (Monday), and the National Day of Prayer (Thursday), so it is easy to see how it can get overlooked in the holiday rush. The reminder I got came from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Newspaper Association of America, two groups with vested interests in the health of the news business. They suggested it might be a good time to remind readers about how important the First Amendment is.

        I can already see the responses this is likely to generate in my E-mail. The last time I wrote in defense of the First Amendment — because a newspaper editor was booed off the stage at a college commencement for suggesting we were trampling rights in the war against terrorism — I was called un-patriotic.

        I don't consider myself un-patriotic, but it doesn't bother me much if you disagree. That's what the First Amendment guarantees are all about — the freedom to disagree.

        If you still think I'm full of it, consider this quote, which was included in the press release I'm talking about:

        “Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government, which is doing what it believes to be right, allow itself to be criticized? . . . Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinion calculated to embarrass the government?”

        Why indeed? Doesn't it hurt our country to criticize the President, especially when we are faced with the threat of terror? Doesn't it hurt our city to run stories critical of the police, especially in the wake of last year's riots? Doesn't it degrade our faith in God to keep writing about a few perverted priests who molest children?

        We get letters asking questions like that every day. We print a lot of them. I think these critics are wrong, but I hope they don't stop writing. Criticism is healthy and sometimes even valid.

        I disagree with the critics in these cases because I think it is good that the President has backed off the notion of secret prosecutions by military tribunals. I think our city is a safer place to live if bad cops and bad policies are eliminated from our police force. And I think refusing to deal with child molesting just guarantees more victims.

        Presidents, police and priests, like everyone else, tend to do their jobs better if they know someone is watching. This country's founders were wise enough to make sure that the press would be free to watch. That's not the way it is in a big part of the rest of the world.

        If you still think I'm wrong, go back and read the quote I put in italics up above. Those are the words of Vladimir Lenin. A free and unfettered press was not a concept he adopted when setting up the Soviet Union.

        Personally, I prefer the wisdom of James Madison to that of Lenin:

        “To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been obtained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”

        Of course, you are free to think that Mr. Madison and I are full of beans. If you do, you should say so. After all, it's your right.

        Oh, and have a happy holiday.
       

        Contact David Wells at 768-8310; fax: 768-8610; e-mail: dwells@enquirer.com. Cincinnati.Com keyword: Wells.

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