Free Flow of Information

 Ethan Parker 

10/7/21

As we all know, we all have the essential right to speak our minds and spread news as we wish. But with doing so, if you are to upset the government, you may suffer consequences. Throughout this blog post I will discuss what the free flow of information is essentially, why we have the right to spread news to an extent, and what happens if we spread news the government does not want getting out. 

So what really is the free flow of information? Well there was an rule that was put out called the "Free Flow of Information Act" which pretty much protects reporters, journalists, and news article reporters from being forced to have to reveal their sources to their information on the take they currently have going on or have already published when faced of federal prosecution. Although this law sounds promising everywhere, it has not been mandated nationally yet. This act pretty much began due to the White House pushing for federal protection when it came to media. We needed this form of protection in order for our feelings to get out, it almost looked like a form of communication in which it was in a sense. This act and this push allowed for us to be able to effectively report certain things without getting in trouble to an extent. This was very vital to us because it allows us to also speak out in the form of the first amendment. As we all know, if there wee no speaking out or any free form of speech, we would not live in the democracy we live in today. The free flow of information allowed us to spread news to the public, it allowed for those with a great scoop to put out information they felt as though all should hear and oftentimes, the information that was being put out, lead to many different forms of feelings. As we know, the Government loves to hide things as well as sort of keep secrets, therefore their feelings are seen in a variety of different ways because of how they feel when"valuable" information gets loose. The Government majority of times does something that is not good and that is why they try to hide the information that shows what all the wrong they were doing and this is why the free flow of information is so valuable to us today. We are able to get that information loose and out to those who may need to see it but this can oftentimes come with great consequences which is unfair. The free flow of information is our right to protection when posting valuable stories of information and we shall not undergo prior restraint when doing so. Our voices are hidden and that should no longer stand, we have all the right under the first amendment and acts such as the free flow of information act to be able to share news and gather information from people like reporters and journalists, no matter the take they currently have or have been working on. The free flow of information is very important to us today and we must be able to continue using it as well as our first amendment rights to receive valuable information and make sure the Government plays their correct roles in our society.

We have the right to do things such as spread information and valuable news but it is also held to a certain extent obviously. Under the first amendment we shall never be detained for articulating opinions in form of a speech weather it is verbal or technical. We as humans and citizens of the United States of America are allowed to post what we what, inform others, vocalize opinions, and stand up for what all we believe is right, even if that means to spread news that the Government does not want to get loose. Obviously due to the first amendment, we have the right to do things such as spread news and information and discuss topics as we wish essentially but there is a limit to what we can do believe it or not. Julian Assange, was taken away for supposedly hacking into US government classified documents and posting the footage that was refused to be shown on the site he founded, known as WikiLeaks. This is what I mean by we can publish information to an extent. Julian Assange was looking to inform the people, allow us some insight on what is really going on and it turns out he has been wanted dead for years now, he was even wanted dead by the former President of the United States, Donald John Trump. Officials did not enjoy the presence of Assange because he knew how to release valuable information that we should always be able to have access to, and this is why we cannot fully post information as we wish because we too may be wanted dead by the Government also, all because we know information that they do not want us to release. If we were to release news similar to Assange, we'd be the ones that are getting taken away, silenced, and who knows what else. It is completely unfair that we must live in a so called "free" country that does not even allow us to do free things under the constitution at times. Of course we can move information across the internet as we wish but yes we cannot do things such as post things that may be harmful to others, threatening, as well as we are not allowed to share things across the internet that may have to do with child pornography, but those are givens and somewhat obvious, we should know what all the Government is doing and what they have been hiding from us. We are citizens of this country and we should be able to hear from Assange no matter what he has to say because we deserve to hear it in this so called "free" country. 

Now going off of assumption and what all I already have knowledge of, such as what all has happened to Assange, if we were to spread news that the government does not want getting out, our country may no longer be a Democracy. I state this because, our voices will begin to get cut off and we may longer be able to express our own opinions because the Government is to secretive and scared to hear what we may have to put out. Many individuals will be locked up in jail all over the world and we may never see them again because the Government does not want information to get out, valuable information that they believe they can only see, when that is completely wrong because us citizens have just as much rights to view what all is going on as they do. The country of he US will become limited to information and it will seem like the US population is becoming smaller and smaller due to the people being placed in jails all across the world, such as Julian Assange who is currently in London, in maximum security prison. Is all this really necessary? Yes, we understand classified information is "classified" but does it really take moving a known reporter and journalist to a different country, placing him in maximum security? That sure makes it seem like the Government is hiding much more than Assange has released and it scares me a bit to say that. What else is the Government pushing to keep away from us? How long will it be kept a secret? Who will be the next Julian Assange that gets taken away and locked up? This is what we must consider now and if we were to push to release valuable information such as Julian Assange has done, we'd all end up in a similar position, people will be working towards plans to assassinate us and it is because we want to hear the truth, know what all is actually going on. If we were all to work towards releasing this precious information, we'd soon turn our democracy into a dictatorship where one voice begins to have all the power because it seems like our rights will be striped from us instantly if we try getting near publishing governmental "classified" information that we deserve to see. We should not have to live in this type of fear, fear to publish information, fear of knowing the truth, fear of being locked up and taken away from family and friends for knowing and trying to publicize the truth, it must stop and the Government must realize, they work for us and we do not work for them, this is and will forever be a democracy. 

In conclusion, we have the right to spread information in a free flowing way and we shall always hold onto that right no matter what. We should be able to access information without being worried of what might happen to us and we should know all the classified information the Government hides, after all we live in a democracy and information is allowed to be spread to the public, therefore we should not be arrested for finding hidden news that should have been released because we are the people and we deserve the free flow of information and all that comes with it.