BLOG POST #3

The Eight Values of Free Expression 

                                                                                 1. Marketplace of Ideas

                                                                                            2. Participation in Self-Government

                                                                                   3. Stable Change

                                                                                                  4. Individual Self-Fulfillment 

                                                                       5. Check on Governmental Power

                                                                                        6. Promote Tolerence 

                                                                             7. Promote Innovation

                                                                                             8. Protect Dissent

Scholars use The Eight Values of Free Expression to describe why freedom of expression is so important to us as Americans. The theory I personally find most important is number five or Check on Governmental Power. In this theory, Vince Blasi says,

"That a free press serves as a conduit of information to the electorate, allowing the general public to digest and analyze this information to judge and react to the government's actions."

Check on Governmental Power also know as the watchdog role, plays into the idea that freedom of the press enables citizens to learn about abuses of power and allows them to do something about it. If the government does something that is out of its normal range of power, the press can get the word out and inform the people so that the checks-and-balance system stays intact and keeps the government or its officials from becoming too powerful.

This theory is definitely something that's very much relevant today. With all the technology we have in our everyday lives, it is now even more easy and convenient to get news and information. Things like social media, news stations, news apps, and more are all designed to keep the public up to date. This is a very powerful and useful tool for Check on Governmental Power because it allows the press to reach a vast audience much more swiftly and in a way that almost everyone can see. 

Edward Snowden

In 2013 Edward Snowden, a National Security Agency contractor, leaked highly classified documents about how the government was spying on the American people. The Guardian and The Washington Post published the first series of reports about how the government was using nine internet companies (Google, Apple, and Facebook being among the nine) to spy on people's emails, audio/video chats, photographs, and documents/ connection logs. Now it's understandable to do these things with criminals or suspected terrorists but this was happening to normal everyday citizens. Snowden saw what the government was doing was wrong and abusing its power. As a result, he used the press and media to get the word out to the people about what was happening behind closed doors. 

End result was that new regulations and laws were put into place having to do with how long U.S. citizens' data could be stored 

Watergate

Democratic National Committee 

In 1972, multiple burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee. It was then discovered that the burglars were linked to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign. They were caught wiretapping phones and stealing copies of top-secret documents, this became known as the Watergate Scandal. President Nixon committed illegal espionage but it's how he attempted to cover it up that would lead to an abuse of presidential power. Nixon first provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money to the burgers. He then instructed the CIA to impede the FBI's investigation of his crime and the break-in. This was obviously a major abuse of power as president. Facing impeachment by Congress he resigned in disgrace.

There are two men from The Washington Post credited with revealing Nixon's role in the scandal and they are Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their reporting on Watergate opened the public's eyes to the wrongdoings happening in the presidency and ended up winning them a Pulitzer Prize. Watergate is yet another example of how powerful Check on Governmental Power is because it has the ability to make real change.