You Can’t Save Free Press by Putting it on the Public Dole

By Terry Tracy

The press is the “chief democratic instrument of freedom,” Alexis de Tocqueville once observed. The United States Constitution goes further: it singles out the press as the only private industry explicitly protected in the First Amendment. That is not ornamental. It reflects a structural judgment — that democratic government depends on a press that remains independent of the state it is tasked with scrutinizing.

That is why the proposal advanced by Jim Friedlich — CEO and executive director of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer — in an April 9 editorial demands far more scrutiny than it has received.

What is framed as a pragmatic effort to “revive” local journalism is, in substance, an argument for expanding the financial and structural relationship between the press and the state. In essence, the government would collect your taxes and send them to the media outlets that are supposed to be keeping them honest.

Why It Matters. A media organization dependent on the government will never hold the government to account.

Read the entire article HERE:  https://broadandliberty.com/2026/04/15/terry-tracy-you-cant-save-a-free-press-by-putting-it-on-the-public-payroll/