[Jim Noble]

“The freedom of the press was enshrined in the first amendment to our constitution because the founders of our Republic knew that the Fourth Estate played a vital role as the public’s watchdog, there to hold people in power accountable.”

Nonsense.

The “watchdog” function is an invention of the 20th century to justify sedition and subversion.

[GOPJ]

“...I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts [Giuffre] didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards...” No doubt, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh laughed his ass off at that part about “ABC’s editorial standards.”

In a sane world ABC would NOT be allowed to call their idiot events shows 'news'...

[Political Junkie Too]

The freedom of the press was enshrined in the first amendment to our constitution because the founders of our Republic knew that the Fourth Estate played a vital role as the public’s watchdog, there to hold people in power accountable.

The origin of the term "the press" to refer to periodicals and journalism generally (see also the so-called Fourth Estate) didn't begin until the 1800s. The usage in reference specifically to reporters and journalists collectively didn't begin until the early 1900s.

At the time of the Framers of the Constitution, "the press" meant the printing press, and "freedom of the press" meant the right of citizens to publish, sharing their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs beyond the range of simple speech in a town square. Many examples of this were "citizen journalists," journaling the goings on in their communities, and sharing opinions on them with the other colonies.

"Freedom of the press" was meant to ban the federal government from stopping Americans from mass communicating, not to enshrine a special class of "journalists" as watchdogs over the government. All citizens were watchdogs, just as we do here on Free Republic.

-PJ