Rural Issues: Press freedom is under attack

Bullies come in all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. They come from all different vocations, religions and education levels. They come from urban and rural areas.

You find them on county boards, school boards, in seventh-grade classrooms and on construction crews. They are present in state legislatures, in government agencies and the U.S. Congress.

Bullies are everywhere.

In fact, if we all take a really hard look at ourselves, we will probably find that at some point in our own lives, intentionally or not, we bullied someone.

In my 35 years in the field of agricultural journalism, I’ve run into my fair share of bullies. Reporters themselves can be bullies as can the news agencies they represent.

There are several news agencies today much more concerned about getting their agenda across, or the agenda of the political party they have saddled up with, than they are about truth. Journalism is supposed to be about the truth.

There have been times while watching a few of those correspondents standing in front of our nation’s capitol spinning their tales, when I secretly wished someone would stand up to them and take their microphones and cameras away — OK, maybe not so secretly.

However, a much worse scenario than these misguided correspondents spewing political rhetoric disguised as news is a media controlled by the government. Countries like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Iran, China, Cuba, Myanmar and Azerbaijan censor the media using tactics ranging from harassment to imprisonment.

That would never happen in these United States of America. Or, would it?

Last week, a national news correspondent on-site in rural Ohio covering an important news story was told to leave a press conference — a press conference he was invited by the governor’s office to attend.

When he told the officers he was there as a reporter doing his job and was protected under the First Amendment, they forcibly pushed and pulled him out of the gymnasium, threw him to the ground, handcuffed him and took him to jail.

I was gobsmacked when I saw the video of the confrontation and arrest shot by local media who were there covering the press conference in the same capacity as the national correspondent.

I was even more gobsmacked when I saw the police body cam video, which disproved everything the law enforcement on site had said about the “encounter” with this “criminal.”

I remain gobsmacked today that this happened in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The journalist was breaking no laws. He was doing his job. He was calm yet stood his ground.

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, the press and assembly. One of my friends assessed this situation by suggesting, “Some local officials were quite full of themselves and combative.”

What troubles me even more than this whole situation is the “what if.” What if that reporter was not with a national news organization with a legal team and bail money?

What if that reporter was from the local newspaper in the next county over? Would we have heard about it? Probably not.

I have always been a flag-waving patriotic supporter of the military and “the blue.” I have friends and family both active and retired from both. Perhaps that is one reason this was such a “gut punch.”

You should never assume all farmers, teachers, preachers, seventh-graders or sheriff deputies are or are not bullies.

Please, support training of law enforcement in your county. They are there to protect us and serve us.

Don’t let what happened in that Ohio county happen in your community.