This Is Why We NEED Independent Media

[spin]

1. In a good functioning representative democracy such as ours it is essential to have a free ...

and independent press as it is the watchdog that sounds the alarm when the government is overstepping its limits.

That's why freedom of the press is included in the First Amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights .

History shows that one of the first things an oppressive government does is to gain control of the press.

In my opinion it really doesn't matter if you are a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent. Even if the party you support is in power, you should wish that the leadership follows the law.

Without the free press it is quite likely that "Tricky Dick" Nixon would have been able to squash the Watergate Scandal and never have been forced to resign. We would have never heard of Iran-Contra.

If you don't believe me on how important the free press is just check our this article on Political Scandals in our nation that the press help to reveal:

List of federal political scandals in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States#Executive_Branch_2

The bottom line is that a free press can be a real pain if the party you support is in power but it helps prevent all overly ambitious politicians from abusing their authority and power.

Of course a free press needs to also be free of corporate control. That may be even more difficult to accomplish than making sure it is free of political control.