We, as people who are protected by the First Amendment, are given rights that are protected. One of those rights is the freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is not just something that the individual needs to be able to express themselves and learn who they are and what they believe, it is also an important way to check on the government and see what they are doing.
There are eight values of free expression as a result of our freedom of speech. They are the Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation and Protect Dissent.
All of these values are important to the individual, and to take one of these away would hurt people and would change how our democracy works. One of the important ones is the value of Checking on Governmental Power, otherwise known as the Watchdog role.
The Watchdog role is used with the freedom of the press to keep an eye on the government. Take a look at Watergate, one of the best examples of watchdog journalism. When the Washington Post was able to see a connection between the break-ins of the Watergate office and Nixon's re-election team, they broke the story. The publicity that this story gained was enough to make other areas of government, like the Justice Department and the FBI.
Without this freedom, we would not be allowed to do that, or we would have to worry about the government censoring things that they don't want to be known. This is one of the best ways we have to keep the government honest and doing what it is supposed to. Knowing that they are being watched and with the assumption that everything will come to light eventually can help with that.
One of the most important things that we have in the value of governmental checks is local news. They are the ones that are on the ground looking at what affects the people around them. They have the most skin in the game to care about what people need. They are the ones holding government officials accountable on local levels, making sure they are doing what they can to help people.
But local news is in danger, it is disappearing slowly but surely. They are being closed or taken over by bigger news sources and losing their ability to focus on the local problems like they used to before. In this article https://apnews.com/article/816b31f8571d4b759227e58c6252e99d, they talk about how the local papers and news can help bring a lot of transparency within the government. As all of these establishments are being closed or taken away this has a huge effect on the people in these towns who are becoming less and less aware of everything that is happening around them.
They don't know what their government is doing, and with no one watching over the government's shoulder to make sure they are doing the right thing. The government now has a lot more free range to do as it pleases. The role of Watchdog Journalism and the Check on Governmental Power is so important to keep the government honest and making sure there is transparency in what happens to the people who aren't directly in government.
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