Editor:
It is disconcerting to discover that some of our fellow citizens do not seem to understand the full significance of the freedom of press clause in the First Amendment of our Constitution. They are on record protesting the practice of newspaper editors expressing their opinions in the editorial section of their papers and taking a stand on issues of public interest. Their objections arise from a failure to see the difference between news and opinion. Editorial pages, by definition and tradition, are dedicated to the expression of opinion, not only by the editor but by guest columnists and subscribers who write letters to the editor. The rest of the paper is devoted to publishing the news, a variety of notices, obituaries, ads, feature articles, etc.
The objectors to this time-honored practice are unwittingly engaged in censorship, an oppressive activity that defenders of civil liberties have resisted over the centuries. It is instructive to consider the precedent-setting case of John Peter Zenger, the early 18th-century publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, who was indicted by the colonial government for having published an article on liberty of the press. The jury acquitted Zenger, whose defense was led by the Sons of Liberty.
Many famous persons have defended this precious freedom, including John Milton, whose pamphlet, Aeropagitica, published in 19644, contains some of the best arguments for freedom of speech. As an inscription to this lengthy and erudite work, Milton quotes the Greek tragedian, Euripides: This is true liberty, when free-born men, having to advise the public, may speak free .... (From the play, Suppliants)
Throughout history, courageous champions of freedom of speech have been subject to censorship and its attendant punishments by both secular and religious powers. If our right-winters want to deter editors from expressing opinions they do not like, then perhaps they should campaign for laws establishing a system of censorship akin to that in operation in Elizabethan England that published violators of the rules by cutting off their hands.
Denton May
Cortez
