This was in sharp contrast with my experience of serving for a decade as a foreign correspondent based in Prague, for Hungarian newspapers.

In Communist Czechoslovakia and Hungary, every word I wrote was scrutinized, and the wrong words could have landed me in prison.

Thus, no wonder I was deeply impressed by Thomas Jefferson’s multiple declarations that free press is a tool for an informed citizenry and check on government power.

Jefferson stated: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press. I believe the press should be free from government control and serve as a watchdog assuring transparency and accountability.”

In a letter to Edward Carrington, a Revolutionary soldier, and later serving in Congress, Jefferson wrote that he would prefer “newspapers without government” to “government without newspapers.”

Jefferson saw freedom of speech and the press as fundamental rights, arguing that they were crucial for the advancement of knowledge and the pursuit of truth.

In addition, Jefferson believed that the free press was essential for a well-informed citizenry, enabling them to participate in government and hold leaders accountable.

Although all what Jefferson believed and proclaimed are self-evident, in today’s technology driven environment, most of the public at large, including the American citizenry is informed about what is happening in the world, as well as comments, from unedited, free-wheeling social media.

Abby Rapoport, the publisher of the prestigious magazine, “Stranger’s Guide,” a Williamsburg native, delivered recently the 2025 McSwain-Walker Lecture at William & Mary’s Reves Center for International Studies.

In her lecture Rapoport pointed out, that many Americans, especially young adults, regularly get news from influencers on social media. About one in five U.S. adults (21%), including 37% adults under 30, say they regularly get their news this way.

“Most Americans who do so, say influencers has helped them better understand current events and civic issues, and that the news they got from influencers is different from the news they get from other sources,” Rapoport said.

Who are those news influencers? According to Rapoport’s research, around there quarters (77%) have no past or present affiliation with news organization. Men outnumber women by a roughly two-to one margin. And among those who express a political orientation more identify as right-leaning than left-leaning.

“it is startling how much less access to reliable information we have as a country now than we did 19 years ago,” Rapoport said. “And of course that particularly true in communities that are poorer and less white.”

According to Rapoport, since 2005, total newspaper employment has decreased by more than 70% and 2,900 newspapers have shut down. Currently, 25 newspapers shut down per week in the U.S.

In 2023, more than 21,000 journalists were laid off, the highest number since 2020.

As bleak as the future looks for keeping the American public reliable informed, there is hope for “independent media.”

“From where I sat in 2009,” Rapoport said, “being a reporter at the Texas Monthly, the Texas Tribune, and the Texas Observer, there appeared to be a promising alternative path forward for journalism moving to a nonprofit model.”

(Frank Shatz is a former resident of Lake Placid and a current resident of Williamsburg, Virginia. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” a compilation of his columns. This column is used with permission by the Virginia Gazette.)