The first Amendment of our Constitution grants all Americans the access to a free press as well as free speech, to which these rights are absolutely vital for our country so that we as fellow countrymen can hear and respond to the cacophony and symphony of press and speech in order to become more informed about the things that matter to us. In order to learn and to be thereby an informed citizen, one must have a free and open press, as well as the right to openly communicate with other citizens on the things that are of most importance to us via an interchange of ideas, thoughts, and concepts. While America does have a free press as well as free speech, the mainstream press itself has consolidated so much in modern times that the press has fundamentally been reduced into two basic viewpoints: a more liberal leaning one, and a more conservative one, but although it might appear that these two viewpoints are at war at one another, they aren't really, as both have the same basic incentive, to pass off propaganda as news, to keep the masses in perpetual fear and dependent, and to create profits for their corporate masters.
Any citizenry that truly thinks for itself is dangerous to the status quo, because a thinking man is someone that might take positive action to effect real change, and that change, could well affect the dynamics and the players of this great nation. The importance of a free press that impresses upon the public, real debate, real viewpoints, clear, controversial, and comprehensive thinking and thought, is the type of free press that our citizens deserve, but that isn't necessarily what we get. Instead, freedom of the press has in the main, devolved into corporate speak, or political hatchet jobs, and is carefully processed and manipulated so as to guide the mass of its citizens into believing that they are truly receiving all the news that is fit to print, but instead are absorbing only the news that the mainstream press feels will best guide these pliable citizens into actions that benefit the media owners and their power structure.
The things that we read and hear are vital to us, because from this information, we build a viewpoint of what America and its citizens represent, so that, if certain views are held in abeyance, or unspoken, or ignored, than many citizens will be blithely unaware of them. Today's purpose of the press isn't to inform the public of what is really going on, as that is far too dangerous, but to instead sell them a fraudulent bill of goods, that falsely represents what America is, when it really isn't that at all. If, the press can mold the public into believing that life consists of essentially a benevolent government that bestows a safety net upon all, and/or a government that always makes sure to keep its citizens safe from all enemies foreign and domestic, via our strong military and homeland security, than they have hoodwinked the general masses into essentially acquiescing to such a belief made more intoxicating by providing in whole enough entertainment, food, shelter, and health services to sustain them.
A true freedom of the press is messy, inconvenient, vociferous, controversial, loud, and vibrant. Our governmental leaders should be challenged, we should think, question, and debate the great issues of our day recognizing that by doing so we become what the government fears most: active, involved, informed, accountable, and with free minds that think and take positive action, accordingly.