Thomas Jefferson and His Impact on Journalism

In Chapter 18 of From Milton To McLuhan: The Ideas Behind American Journalism, J. Herbert Altschull raises the question: "What exactly did Jefferson believe?" Altschull frames Thomas Jefferson as inconsistent in his opinions on the role and accountability of the press in America. As an avid letter writer, the author claims, Jefferson did not always think through his arguments, often contradicting himself. Altschull, however, is able to break down and summarize Jefferson's overwhelming amount of literature into three points, beliefs, that "seem particularly relevant in a discussion of the ideas of American journalists," and thus provide evidence as to why Jefferson has had the most significant impact on journalism.

To begin with, Jefferson believed in the justification of actions through "natural law." In some cases where the conscious must decide between doing what is right and doing what is asked of it, natural law is applicable over man-made law, he said. For example, man-made law may demand that a journalist comply with a court order to reveal the names of their sources. The journalist who disobeys, goes against the court and keeps his promise of confidentiality to his sources is basing his decision on natural law.

Sometimes journalists must, as Altschull puts it, "swim against the tide of majority sentiment" when a danger exists in society that threatens the workings of democracy. Journalism's role as a watchdog may periodically compel journalists to abandon written laws--sticking to them is not the highest duty of an American citizen according to Jefferson--and to instead adhere to "laws of necessity, of self-preservation," the natural law.

Secondly, Jefferson advocated a social structure in which success was based on talent and skill, and not on birth or associations--the merit system. The journalist's mission inline with this belief is to uncover those people who have risen in the ranks through the practice of nepotism; "...no political figure is so powerful as to be beyond the reach of

Lastly, Jefferson believed that all sides should be heard in matters of public discourse, and that truth would win out over falsity through the wisdom and decision-making skills of the American public; in other words, Jefferson believed in Milton's self-righting principle. Applying this to journalism, one should argue that a free, wide-open and robust debate must be guaranteed to assure that the conflict between fact and error works itself out; and that "one must at all cost avoid censoring the reports of those who present various points of view."

Public opinion would determine truth and error, Jefferson said. "In the end Jefferson appears to have placed greater trust in the public than in the press," Altschull writes.

Jefferson gets his ambiguous and flip-floppy reputation from his varying stances on this very issue: How much freedom should the press have in its publishing of material? On one side of the fence, we have a Jefferson who is the "best friend" of the press, who once said he "would prefer newspapers without government to government without newspapers," now a rallying cry for all journalists. On the other side is a Jefferson who, after taking the presidential office, asked state courts to start bringing down punishments against newspapers that opposed him and that, as he claimed, were immoral. Publicly, Jefferson praised the press: Newspapers were the "powerful agent of freedom" while he was president. In the confines of private letters (which Jefferson ensured were not made public), he was much more cynical of the press.

In 1777 Jefferson, in support of a loyalty oath in Virginia, said Tories were correctly thought of as traitors. Critics of Jefferson point to 1778 as well, when, in support of an amendment to the Constitution to guarantee freedom of the press, he said that printers have a liability for "false facts" published in their papers. He would later write: "The declaration that religious faith shall be unpunished does not give impunity to criminal acts dictated by religious error."

When Virginia passed their act guaranteeing religious freedom, Jefferson backed Hume and Montesquieu's overt-act principle, which said that the government should not punish anyone for spoken or written speech. It is not clear if he meant the principle should be applied to either political and religious speech, or just religious speech solely.

All of these examples lead the reader to an image of Jefferson that is not wholly sympathetic to the press. He probably struggled a lot with these topics, especially after he was feeling the wrath of the virulent reporter's pen as President of the United States. However, many of the ideas he championed (whether he accepted them as true or not) form the core of beliefs at the root of journalism; his doubt does not devalue this.

Journalism must be grateful to Thomas Jefferson for supporting, at the time of the founding of our nation and of our press, much of the guiding ideology we still follow today: We have the responsibility to report on anything (especially when it comes to those with power or wealth) the public needs to know that will aid them in their search for the truth. For the good of democracy, we may have to occasionally make decisions with out hearts instead of our heads, ruffling some feathers in the process, but ultimately contributing to the good of the community. Above all, no one can control what we write and publish.

In his remarkable job of summing up the philosophy of the press throughout his lifetime, Jefferson left an indelible mark on the world of journalism.

Work Cited

Altschull, J. Herbert. From Milton To McLuhan: The Ideas Behind American Journalism.