Major Update - Feb 21: Press Talk: Former prez liked the press

Yesterday, I did a post pointing out the stupidity of Lou Brancaccio's ongoing efforts to justify the continuing existence of The Columbian. In that sorry effort to justify the unjustifiable, Mr. B quoted Jefferson thusly:

"And were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter."

I won't repeat the many reasons why his column was utter nonsense. I will point out where I disagreed with Mr. B's comparison between what he's doing, and what Jefferson was referring to:

There is something of a difference between "newspaper" and "left-leaning,
agenda-forming, frequently-mistaken, truth-is-no-object, newsletter."

Were The Columbian the very definition of a newspaper; free from bias, factually correct, without an agenda that benefits a few approved special interests at the expense of the vast majority, free from attempting to crush opponents and those wise enough to question either their veracity or their vision, I might tend to agree with both Mr. Jefferson and Mr. B's efforts to invoke Jefferson as some sort of excuse for keeping this newspaper around.

But such a definition does not apply here. The Columbian has long since lost it's place as an important aspect of disseminating information, particularly about an out of control government that views political and financial pay offs as far more important then doing their duty.

Of course, I can't pass on my take of Jefferson's reaction to this cheap, unjustifiable ploy:

I would like to think that Jefferson, who was something of a gifted writer himself, was a little brighter then Mr. B. gives him credit for.

And, I was not disappointed. Clearly, while the "former prez" may have "like the press," he grew to know it like we have, and ultimately grew to loath it.

Like other newspapers of the 1790s, Freneau's National Gazette did not feign neutrality. With the population widely dispersed, newspapers were unabashedly partisan organs that supplied much of the adhesive power binding the incipient parties together. Americans were a literate people, and dozens of newspapers flourished. The country probably had more newspapers per capita than any other. A typical issue had four long sheets, crammed with essays and small advertisements but no drawings or illustrations. These papers tended to be short on facts - there was little "spot news" reporting - and long on opinion. The more closely resembled journals of opinion than daily newspapers. Often scurrilous and inaccurate, they had few qualms about hinting that a certain nameless official was embezzling money or colluding with a foreign power. "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper," Jefferson later said. "Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle." No code of conduct circumscribed responsible press behavior. [emphasis added]

The Columbian has a long, long way to go before its absence would ever be noticed.

Thank you, Mr. Jefferson, for telling it like it is. As in so many other things, your vision of the future has proven startlingly accurate.