20 THE COURIER SUN • FEBRUARY 23, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM editorial PURPLE MARTIN IN A FOREST HILLS SNOWSTORM // PHOTO BY FLOR ANGELA CASTRO Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! To submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, visit our Facebook page, tweet @QNS or email editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). Defending the free press that defends you Whether it’s an international news organization or a community newspaper like ours, the free press plays an important role in the lifeblood and health of our democracy. Indeed, our democratic republic’s survival depends on a free press that can do its job independent of government and exempt from punishment for simply reporting the facts. This weekend, the president made a ridiculous and inflammatory comment about the free press being, in his words, “the enemy of the American people.” Sadly, many of his true believers agree with that statement. Of all the things the president has said in his political life, this remark is perhaps the most dangerous, yet also the most inaccurate. There are institutional checks and balances within the branches of our government, but an independent, free press is a check and balance on the government itself. It speaks for those who lack a voice, exposes wrongdoing where it is oft ignored, provides the public with facts that more powerful institutions would rather keep secret, and informs truths that those institutions would rather mold to their own liking. “In the nearly 300 years since the trial of John Peter Zenger set the precedent for a free and open press, journalists have stared down jail time, and in some cases, given their lives, while fulfilling their duty to inform the public,” New York Press Club President Steve Scott wrote to the president in a perfect rebuttal of the president’s remarks this weekend. “We understand that you will not always agree with what is written or spoken about you. But the fact that you disagree with a story does not make it fake news. And it does not make the press the enemy.” Not everyone likes what they read in the papers or online, or see on television. That is to be expected. As the old adage goes, the truth often hurts. The free press isn’t here to tell you what you want to hear, or to be a mouthpiece for an institution of government. The free press is here to tell you what you need to know, and what you should know, about what’s going on in your world, your country, your state, your city, your community. This newspaper, as part of the free press, is also here for you, to hear your grievances about the issues that matter to you, and to help get those issues addressed. A republic without a free press won’t be a republic for very long. Let’s keep that in mind the next time the president sends out another embarrassing tweet about an article he doesn’t like. STORY: ICE raids in East Elmhurst and across the city cause alarm and confusion SUMMARY: Hundreds of arrests have been made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across the country in the past week, including 41 in the Greater New York area, that have left many worried and confused. REACH: 16,998 (as of 2/20/17) sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Robert Pozarycki Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Ron Torina Emily Davenport Katrina Medoff, Anthony Giudice, Angela Matua, Suzanne Monteverdi Cliff Kasd en, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Dylan Frand Deborah Cusick Warren Susman Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. 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