Journalism faculty warns against curbs on speech

An open letter to our journalism students and the University of Oregon community from faculty and staff of the School of Journalism and Communication:

Dear students, colleagues and our community,

Journalism and freedom of speech are under attack. We write this letter as proud faculty and staff in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon who feel the urgency of the times. These are not isolated events, anomalies in an otherwise functioning system. These are systemic and systematic attacks on the First Amendment by our own government.

In recent months, the administration has targeted journalism. Lawsuits are in motion against “60 Minutes,” the Des Moines Register, and the Pulitzer Prize Board while the Associated Press was banned from the White House for refusing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Voice of America has been gutted, and an executive order would defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Our political leaders have set a tone of accusation and denial, and the label “fake news” has normalized open hostility against journalism and journalists.

Large corporations have the choice whether to fight or acquiesce. But these attacks chill the broader journalism landscape, pressuring local news organizations to make choices about whether to publish news that risks lawsuits and costly legal action.

Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University Ph.D. student, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents on the streets of Boston on March 26 and was held in a Louisiana detention center for the act of writing an op-ed in her college newspaper. After six weeks in detention, a federal court ordered her release.

From the highest offices of our government, we’ve heard rhetoric that characterizes journalists not as citizens doing the hard work of democracy, but as enemies to be discredited. And this rhetoric has spread to state and local government leaders, a contagious disease in a country that has lost its herd immunity.

Let us be clear: These actions are not political disagreements or critiques of coverage. They are threats—direct and indirect—to the constitutional foundation of our democracy. You do not have to like what journalists report to support their right to publish.

As teachers and staff, we train our students to report honestly, think critically and serve the public good. As a university community, we are charged with nurturing free inquiry, principled debate and the exchange of ideas across differences. These values are not partisan. They are democratic.

To our journalism students: Your work matters. You are carrying on the essential, often risky work of bearing witness and seeking truth. Journalism is not an act of compliance. It is an act of responsibility.

To our community: A free press is not a luxury. It is a safeguard. At its best, it holds power accountable, exposes injustice, and helps us understand one another. It is a check against the excesses of governments and corporations. To weaken it—whether through legal intimidation, rhetorical attacks or bureaucratic roadblocks—is to weaken the public’s ability to know, to question and to decide.

Silence is not neutrality. In moments like this, we must affirm, clearly and unapologetically: The role of journalism is essential. The right to report, to question and to publish is not a privilege granted by the government. It is a right enshrined in the First Amendment and defended by generations who came before us.

Respectfully,

Faculty and staff in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon: Charles Butler, Christopher Chávez, Ari Coburn, Alex Segrè Cohen, Nicole Dahmen, Andrew DeVigal, Therese Devoe, Torsten Kjellstrand, David Koranda, Peter David Laufer, Regina G. Lawrence, Tai Le, Ed Madison, Nick Mahlum, Karen McIntyre, Joey McMurry, Annie McVay, Juan-Carlos Molleda, Daniel D. Morrison, Deborah Morrison, Camilla Mortensen, Hailey Nailor, Julianne Newton, Sung Park, Kym Rohman, Lori Shontz, H. Leslie Steeves, John Sutter, Brent Walth, Christine Wise and Will Yurman.

This open letter first appeared in the Eugene Register-Guard. It is reprinted here with permission.