As a journalist, there is nothing more important than the first amendment. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The Northern Iowan has a wide variety of opinion articles done by hundreds of alumni and guest columnists. Politics, sports, movies and campus life are all part of the opinion section. The NI gives students an outlet to express their dislikes or concerns about topics: and without that, some students have no place to share how they feel about a specific topic. Newspapers are a way for stories to be told and appreciated. Not all journalism is the bashing of a political candidate, I would argue the best journalism consists of ordinary people. Local newspapers showcase community members who go above and beyond for those in need, newspapers will promote local businesses and provide information about community events. Before the age of digitized news, this was how people got their information.
Journalism is more important now than ever, in a time of misinformation and bias. While each journalist has their own political points of view, these can be set aside to tell the truth about a candidate or government official that acts in corrupt or dangerous ways. The “bad” journalists misrepresent the amount of productive journalists we have in the United States. To be questioned and criticized in the public eye as a politician is something that is signed up for; words cannot always be hastily said without repercussion. This statement applies to journalists, too. Journalists understand that when they write something, they sign themselves up for the possibility of questioning.
In Dec. ’24, President Donald Trump sued Des Moines Register pollster, Ann Selzer, for “brazen election interference,” when Selzer released a poll that had candidate Kamala Harris projected to win Iowa. Trump noted that suing Selzer would, “(keep) radicals from continuing to act with corrupt intent in releasing polls manufactured for the purpose of skewing election results in favor of Democrats.”
More recently, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks joined Trump in this lawsuit, claiming the same statement as Trump. Miller-Meeks serves the 1st district of Iowa, which includes Iowa City and Pella.
Trump went on to win Iowa by more than 13 percentage points. Iowa was one of many states where Trump beat Harris by over ten percentage points. Trump had officially won the election before he announced he would be suing Selzer. This poll was not released with corrupt intent, nor did it skew the election results in the democrat’s favor, clearly. Iowa has no democrats that serve in the senate, nor in the house of representatives. The last time there was a democrat in an Iowa senate seat was 2015; democrat Tom Harkin. Radicals cannot act with corrupt intent if they aren’t in office to do so.
Trump and Miller-Meeks suing Selzer for this poll is a threat to the first amendment. Polls do not automatically determine the outcome of an election, it is simply a hypothesis of what could happen. This is gigantically concerning for the future state of the press. While some states welcome freedom of press and speech, that is not necessarily the case for Iowa and other republican states.
Rob Sand, Iowa’s 33rd state auditor, is one of the only democrats that has “acted with corrupt intent,” if you will. Sand has uncovered millions of dollars worth of improper spending all over the state. On Jan. 30, Sand issued a report that revealed over $400,000 worth of Iowa taxpayer money was misspent by Children and Families of Iowa, over $300,000 being embezzled directly by administrator Jodi Spargur-Tate.
Iowa Capitol Dispatch notes, “Some of the improper payments made by Spargur-Tate at Children and Families of Iowa are alleged to include $77,730 that was routed to a relative, Dee Dee Millard, for day care services that were never rendered; $10,014 that went to U.S. Cellular; and $6,167 in payments to MidAmerican Energy.”
The importance of the press and public information is truly more important than ever. Without Sand tracking the suspicious spending of Iowa corporations and state programs, Iowans would be unaware of how their tax dollars are being spent. Truthfully, the only reason we know as much as we do is because of Rob Sand. With the amount of shady governance, one can only assume any other candidate would cover up inappropriate spending, especially if it meant they get something out of it.
In the callout of the misspending of taxpayer dollars, Iowa Workforce Development released a response statement to Sand’s findings. “Auditor Sand stated that his office has advised IWD to improve their monitoring process in five of six of their most recent reports and no action was taken. It is simply inaccurate to say that IWD took no action to improve its monitoring and oversight responsibilities.”
In a case of he said/she said, I believe Sand. When IWD says that they have indeed been taking action, but a whopping $400,000 vanished from their accounts, it is absolutely concerning. Sand responded, saying “I also do want to say to Iowa Workforce Development’s credit, they did, over the course of those years, make progress, right? It’s not that they were doing nothing, but still, at the end of the day, it took quite some time for us to get to the point where those findings have been reduced in their scope, and that was only just this year.”
Without freedom of press, Iowa taxpayers would be unaware of how their money is actually spent. Trump and Miller-Meeks actively threatening the press is beyond concerning, considering freedom of press was a major reason British immigrants came to America. Great Britain silenced their people; which in return, made them leave. Journalism exists to call out the poor behavior of our government and those in charge. If we truly live in a democracy, voices are meant to be heard. Journalists, educators, and the watchdogs of America are having to change their wording to fit new curriculums. This is abridging the freedom of speech and press.
