The Job of a Journalist

It is the job of a journalist to report.
Different journalists may enjoy exaggerating for humor and effect, or they may prefer an unemotional statement of fact. Regardless of their writing style, the public counts on them for the truth.
Every American is not an eye-witness to every major event. Every American is not a fly on the wall of top-secret mischief. We the people must receive the facts from the “middleman” of this country: journalists.
With their connections and resources, they are privy to information that we can’t obtain otherwise. They have to be our informing eyes— spread out over the country and the world. Then, they report to us.
There are, therefore, two essential conclusions to draw here.
The first is that journalists must be honest—without polluting the facts or coloring the story with their personal opinion. They must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Because we count on them for that.
The second is that they must not be meddled with. No outside party can interfere—not by blackmail, bribery, or bullying. This is not to say they should not be held accountable for any violation of my first point. I simply affirm that there is a reason why James Madison specified freedom of the press in the first amendment. Its inclusion was purposeful. Any interruption of the flow of news from the journalist to the public abuses the principles this country was founded on.