Freedom of the press?

With Donald Trump’s attack on everything in sight, and a recession looming on the horizon if he continues to govern like a drunken sailor, one interesting thing occurred that made us take notice.

We often use the terms freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but we are well aware those are amendments that are entrenched in the US constitution, and not so much here. But the essence of those tenets, that reporters have rights and powers and responsibilities, are only as strong as they are because they’re backed by the people, not by a government that just doesn’t want its dirty laundry aired, or by a Mohawk Council of Kahnawake trying to control what we report on.

What caught our attention in the US, as the president treats the Oval Office like his personal playground, and the rest of the world as playthings, is the similarities in how he has treated press who don’t agree with him, to what the MCK does to us here.

And it’s not good, for us, for you, but especially for those in power.

Trump decided the Associated Press, which often asks the hard questions to the president, was no longer welcome to cover the White House.

Unilaterally and without warning, they were kicked out.

Freedom of the press? Only if you agree with Trump, apparently.

But the American constitution was made, and then amended, to withstand dictatorships. So, it was the court, the judicial branch of the monster to the south – and a Trump-nominated judge to boot – who said iah.

Not only do your own laws say it’s wrong, Donald, but it’s also a cowardly tactic. Shun the voices who dissent because, well, truth hurts.

All because they refused to go along with Trump’s asinine executive order to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Seriously. You can’t make this kind of childish nonsense up.

“The Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists - be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere - it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “The Constitution requires no less.”

We’re glad it happened and want it to serve as a reminder to the MCK that a society is only as free as its press.

The Mohawk Council continues to drag its feet on allowing Eastern Door reporters to cover community meetings – although we’re “allowed” to cover CDMRP meetings because it isn’t controlled directly by Council – and as the weeks and months go by, it clearly illustrates they don’t see the value of a free press.

And we don’t mean a press that’s going to kiss their asses. We mean a real one, one that will hold them accountable when needed and report on the progress of MCK files, court cases, and everything in between.

Case in point: we helped to shed light some ill-fated decisions recently, which you’ve read about here (Magic Palace, Dean Montour, Indigenous Services, etc.), but we also always give them the chance to highlight some important issues, such as MCK chief Paul Rice’s open battle with addictions, the vital information on cannabis-related news from Tonya Perron, Ryan Montour’s rise from a horrific fall in which he took a man’s life and was elected to office, and anything we think you should know.

We don’t shy away from any of it, but the MCK is forcing us to shy away from community meetings, which means you, our readers, are then left out in the cold.

It must change and those in power must fight for our rights as journalists instead of worrying about how they look on certain issues.

They will make mistakes, we all do, but admitting them and moving forward is the only way.

It’s been over a decade since the author of this editorial, the owner of this newspaper, has been shut out of community meetings, and by default, our non-Native reporters.

When will this embargo, this massive push against the freedom of the press come to an end?

It has to end sometime, so who will have the balls to do what’s right on Council?

Admitting this mistake will fix a lot of things, but it will also give hope that those who were elected by the people are listening, and willing to admit they were wrong.

Ted Staff