There has been a significant tragedy involving the integrity of American leadership. Since the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, there have been many occurrences of the term “Fake News” floating around the White House and in conservative communities, and on behalf of all journalists in America, I am here to tell you that the press is the most legitimate thing alive today. Andrew Vachss once stated, “Journalism is what maintains democracy. It’s the force for progressive social change,” and he couldn’t have been more correct. America needs the truth of the press, and we will answer the call.

“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election,” Trump tweeted last February in retaliation to the negative consensus on his travel ban. Any ideas reflecting these views or reflecting the views that journalism is not by the people and for the people should be disintegrated immediately. This is not a matter of liberalism or conservatism. This is not a matter of parties or political affiliations. This is simply about the morality and ethics that the founding fathers balanced the entire future of The United States on, and it is up to the people, all people, to keep their vision pure. A vision about freedom, individuality, and prosperity that cannot be sacrificed to the powerful and the propagandized.

The United States is the most progressive country in the world, and it is this progression that is a blessing and a curse for our country. With progression comes conflict, and in a country that has always relied on the separation and balancing of powers to keep corruption at bay, the press will be extremely present at all times to report every event as it conspires. This is the responsibility of one of the most essential checks against the powers of government and society.

The great Thomas Jefferson once proclaimed, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” The checks of the press against governmental powers always occur in the hopes of supporting democracy and the American people.

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air,” Henry Anatole Grunwald once stated with great wisdom. Journalism is harsh and raw. It is brutal and unrelenting in the eyes of the innocent and the guilty alike, as it is factual and it is relevant, and above all else the only defense against corruption, fascism, and tyranny.

In a world trapped in exponential severity, the news will get harder and harder to swallow, simply because reporters do not stop in their mission to report events as they happen and when they happen, accurately and thoroughly. Simply because one disagrees with a specific news media outlet, does not fracture the legitimacy of said news media outlet. As journalists, we are here to expose the deception, the lies, and the facts that are present in all factions of society and government.