Government assignment

What are the Limits of a Free Press?
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GREAT DEBATES WORKSHEET 11
A. Comprehension
1. The first option is always going to be to do nothing. Silence on this topic is the wait and see what happens next. The 1968 document in question came into being before Nixon came to the office of President. Nixon also thought this document have an exaggeration of the historical facts. The answer is one history will never know because Nixon did react. The second option was Nixon’s choice to block the release due to distinct policy suggested a threat to national security. All agencies feared that their secret plans would see the light of day and blow up many of the secret negotiations with Russia and China (Pappas, 2.)
2. The first issue was the actual content of the Pentagon papers that detailed every step of the United States trail to into the Vietnam War. The second is “Freedom of the Press” and whether the Times were right or wrong in the publication of these papers. In the end, the federal government predicted major problems never came to fruition.
3. The objections were that there was erroneous information in the document. Nixon suggests the possibility of affecting the current talks with both Russia and China. Nixon also thought it was setting the precedence that it was okay to release any document without prior approval.
4. Rosenthal suggests that that the Times were acting legally when it printed the first part of the papers.

The government’s fears of losing the negotiations never happened. The United States citizens have to read and come to their own conclusions. In addition, that it was the prior administration instigated the war. Finally, secret meetings are how this government operated in those years and cost millions of lives.

B. Critical Thinking
1. These papers exposed how the United States government operated in secrecy. As a result, Nixon tried to end the Vietnam War in 1969, but it was a slow progression.
2. The United States government did get a chance to stop the presses because the first part published before they knew about it. The fact that it was the first part of the Pentagon Papers gave them an opportunity to get a judicial injunction for the rest. The Times appealed the injunction and won.
3. Demonstrating reasoned Judgement
A. the most crucial part is verifying the accuracy of the information. When verified, the press is obligated to print this information. The public needs to be informed. The Freedom of the Press amendment makes it imperative to print all the information available.
B. This is a case for legal action because of the Freedom of the Press, and The First Amendment allows the press to report what is happening, regardless of the Defense Department.
4. Testing Conclusions
Since the United States is a government based on representation, the public has the right to know how the government works in respect to defense policy. It is the press’s right to keep the public informed. This is what transparency is all about. Both sides had good points. When it comes to governmental policies, the public should know all, but even today, the secret meeting still happen between countries. Since most of the governmental statements never came to pass just proves that the right to know is important to all citizens and not just the one who work in the government. Ignorance could be bliss; most citizens prefer actual true information instead of propaganda. Transparency does not mean to keep secret meetings from the people. The people can vote politicians out of office, just as they did this year.