For more than 45 years now, I’ve tried to tell compelling, truthful, well-researched, unbiased stories whenever I’ve had the privilege. Every time I see my name attached to an article, I, along with thousands of my journalism colleagues, fully understand that this is a fragile and sacred honor we never take lightly. If we falsify facts, cut corners, invent or expose sources, overlook critical details, nobody will trust or depend on us for information that matters.
Consequently, when military families raised a red flag about living and working conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, I watched in disbelief. My father, John, his only brother, Calvin, three of my four brothers, my uncles, cousins, and nephews are veterans and proudly served this country, and while they talked about the food and barracks, I’d never heard horror stories like this.
Poor quality food and not enough of it, female sailors needing personal products, extended deployments—crewmembers haven’t had a break during their war work; their families are suffering, which means they’re suffering–their deteriorating mental and physical state causing alarm, and weapon shortages–it never occurred to me that instead of attending to these urgent concerns, reporters would be accused of fabricating the stories to make President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth look bad.
According to published reports, there is very little privacy on this floating city of 5,000 sailors and expensive aircraft. The work can be stressful, physically challenging, and tough. Research has shown that lengthy deployments are already problematic but when you include dehydration and exhaustion, and what National Public Radio calls “a lack of careful and consistent messaging from leadership at the highest levels” about end dates, it adds extreme angst and frustration.
Secretary Hegseth said the accounts of sad conditions were overstated but these anxious families have nothing to gain by lying. They have eyes and ears to see and hear the desperate pleas for help even as President Trump says the deployment was “not nearly long enough.” This crew, almost four months overdue, thankfully, is finally heading home.
Press freedom is a treasured gift but so are freedom of religion, speech, peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government. Many folks tell me that they’ve stopped watching the news because it’s all bad. With wars and rumors of wars, threats to overthrow governmental neighbors, unconscionable rounding up of neighbors, new ballrooms, assaults on voting rights from the courts–now is not the time to stop paying attention.
President Trump seems to take great pleasure in abusing the reporters assigned to him, calling them names, belittling and threatening them, but every day these champions put one foot in front of the other because they believe in our right to know what’s happening in this government “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”
Meanwhile, three people from the Pentagon-supported Stars and Stripes news organization were fired Friday because of their stance/discussions on editorial independence and allegiance to the soldiers and families they serve and support. A Washington, DC-based think tank, the Center for American Progress, was threatened by Mr. Trump’s legal team with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit if public information about an unflattering urban crime report wasn’t retracted. The Center refused, saying it would “neither cower or bend” because the facts criticized federal policy, not Trump personally
I pray these firings and threats will poignantly remind us that freedoms we take for granted are precious and fragile, therefore, when journalists are relentless in their search for truth and justice, we all win …, especially our soldiers and their families.
