Newspapers: The Top Priority

   I have two parents who have worked in the journalistic field in a number of jobs. But there's one that always stuck out: News Journalist. My mother worked at the Courier-Journal and my father worked at the Herald Leader (I know, they're basically Romeo and Juliet), so you'd think I would grow up having a journalist's #1 duty drilled into my skull. Nope. That's not because I'd never heard them (or anyone else for that matter) say it, it's because it's so simple: report the truth.

   What, That's all? I mean duh, first amendment, I thought. But the reason we have freedom of the press is partly because of this man: John Peter Zenger. He was the creator of the first (failed) newspaper in the American colonies. It's name: Publick Occurrences (spelled with a k.) It only had one issue, but that's besides the point.

   Later on, in another newspaper, Zenger criticized a British governor. Obviously the governor wasn't thrilled, and so he had good ole Johnny  tried. But what Zenger said was true, it just shone a bad light on the governor. At the trial it was discovered that truth is the ultimate defense.

   This standard would later be tweaked to be our first amendment, and is still a journalist's top priority. I thought this lecture was important and interesting (principle.) It was also well-rounded and covered multiple components of a newspaper.