OPINION
The First Amendment to The Constitution of The United States codifies our most precious liberties. This column focuses on the Freedom of The Press. Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and others in colonial America risked their lives to publish their grievances against the British. Even under harsh British rule, a courageous press flourished in the Colonies.
Currently my First Amendment focus is on a small town newspaper in Brewton, Alabama which seems to abuse this precious freedom by not using it.
A newspaper, my friends, no matter how small, is very powerful indeed. A sheriff, chief of police, a governor, a school system, social welfare agency, or even the President himself, cannot stop a newspaper from printing news important to its citizens.
Because of the money motive i.e. generating as much advertising revenue as possible - many small town newspapers have lost their way in providing important news to their readers. At one time in our history - along with churches - newspapers provided a moral compass for the community.
Brewton Alabama is a city of secrets. The reason you never see real news in the Brewton Standard is because that newspaper has seemingly let itself become intimidated by the wealth, power, and perceived authority in that little town. Instead of digging for news, It goes hat in hand to get the news - begging - and accepting the crumbs it is thrown in terms of press releases, etc. In its "Post A Message" section, citizens raise real issues that concern them. If I were an editor, this would be a treasure trove of leads for future stories.
Boone Newspapers - the parent company of the Standard - claims it is in the news business. I think it is primarily in the advertising business and puts pressure on its editors and publishers to generate as much of that business as possible. Many papers - including the Standard - seem to miss the point. If you have news in your paper, you sell advertising.
In cities where there are strong newspapers, there is freer, more open government. The journalists at the Brewton Standard know what public information is available to them and their rights to it. Why aren't they demanding this information and publishing it in the Brewton Standard?
There are approximately over seventy individuals in Brewton whose net worth exceeds one million dollars. Many of these people live out of trust funds. Some have never had a real job in their life. Because of their wealth - many of these poor rich folks find themselves in leadership positions they have no qualifications to handle - the only qualification they have is their wealth. Nevertheless, this situation has produced an attitude that is more feudal than democratic. The people will know only what we want them to know, or to quote a powerful figure in Brewton, "I follow the Golden Rule - he who has the gold rules." Law is for the poor whites and blacks, it's not for the upper tiers of the country club set.
Years ago, when I lived in Brewton, my daughter was invited to a party at the home of one of the more prominent citizens. She was 15. When I went to pick her up I noticed a smell coming from her fancy dress she had bought for the occasion - the smell was beer. There was so much beer being served at this party on Belleville Avenue that its odor permeated everything. An attorney, who in the past served as a city judge, was a chaperone for this teenage birthday party. He stuck his head in my car window and said, "Mike, there's just too much teenage drinking going on in there for my tastes." Folks. this was a judge! After I got home and cross-examined my daughter, she told me, "Daddy, there was more than beer and whiskey being served kids at that party." It never crossed the attorney/judge/chaperone's mind that there was something wrong with the situation. He had power to do something about it, but he was scared. Scared he would lose the business of the wealthy family who sponsored the party. So it goes with many institutions in Brewton including the news outlet.
The attitude of privilege has not changed, instead, it has evolved to become more pervasive and corrupt. Major gambling goes on at a privileged club outside of town, Drug shipments are apprehended on Belleville Avenue, a woman on a fashionable street gives alcohol to minors - but the police nor the Standard seem interested in getting to the bottom of these problems in Brewton. Like African ostriches, the people who could actually do some good prefer to stick their heads in the sand with the complicity of the local paper who prefers to take the safe route and not to ask who controls the drugs, why the gambling, or why the DHR fails to take action.
The Brewton Standard knows what I am talking about. They know that their approach to digging for news is pitiful at best. There's plenty of news to report and they have the constitutional power to report it. Why don't they?
Freedom is a very precious thing, Brewtonians. If you don't use what our forefathers, soldiers, and other brave citizens fought and died for, you could very well mire up in the morass of a government that is of men rather than of laws... Sadly, you may be there already...
