When the Founding Fathers were writing the central documents of our new nation, they singled out one private enterprise specifically for protection: The press.
It’s right there in the First Amendment, written in 1789 and adopted in 1791: 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.
The designers of our nation understood that a democracy cannot survive without a protected class of observers who view the events of the day and try to report them as accurately and carefully as possible.
Despite this, not everyone likes, or understands, the role of the press. And some have been referring to media outlets that practice traditional journalism as “fake news.” But that’s a conversation for another day.
We at the Palm Beach Daily News take our role as journalists seriously. We’ve been covering events on this island since 1897, when it was still part of Dade County and there were only around 400,000 people in the entire state. And we continue to carry out that sacred First Amendment mission.
Indeed, when Palm Beach Daily News real estate editor Darrell Hofheinz received the 2024 Judge James R. Knott Historical Contribution Award from the Historical Society of Palm Beach County in May, it was a reminder of the important role that journalists play in documenting history.
Mr. Hofheinz covers real estate, but the reporting he does is vital to recording a key part of Palm Beach life. He’s part of a grand tradition of journalism that has monitored the pulse of its nation since its founding.
As Mr. Hofheinz said when he received the Knott Award, professional journalists “know that we do more than just write about the news. We also document history every day, helping preserve what happened here for future generations.”
That’s a function that those of us who are privileged to work as journalists hold dear, in large part because we know how vital accurate and timely reporting is to the historical record. There are countless journalists who have done their part to document history, but we’ll cite as a good and courageous example Ernie Pyle, who recorded the stories of ordinary soldiers during World War II and helped to provide context for a battle waged overseas.
The United States, with its 250th birthday on the near horizon, is passing through an unusually difficult time in which partisan passions are at a fever pitch that the country has not seen since the Civil War. And that is why the role of journalists across the nation is more important than ever, and that the occurrences of this extraordinary period are thoroughly recorded.
The rightness or wrongness of the actors in today’s events will be the subject of historical debate for decades to come. But that task is different than ours: Our job as journalists is to document everything as precisely and objectively as we can so that the true record of these times can stand outside the transitory rhetoric, no matter how heated, that accompanies the happenings of the day.
The Founding Fathers were assiduous students of the past, as was President Abraham Lincoln, who memorably told his fellow Americans in 1862 that “we cannot escape history.” And it is the precious role of journalists to make sure, no matter the headwinds, that we document that history. In so doing, we live up to our First Amendment privilege and fulfill a sacred pledge of accurate reporting to our readers.
For us, there is no higher calling.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Journalists are duty-bound to record events accurately for posterity | Editorial
Reporting by Palm Beach Daily News Editorial Board / Palm Beach Daily News
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