Freedom of the Press: Why a Healthy Democracy Needs Journalistic Sunlight

We live in a time of not only polarization, emerging AI, and social distrust, but also media disruption. Every week a local news outlet shuts down in America, which means more and more small communities don’t know what’s happening on the city council or at the school board. And this term especially, the Trump Administration is often bypassing traditional media by going “direct to voters” through posts on Truth Social, Instagram, Facebook Reels, or text-based engagement. And yet everyday we see reporters, columnists, and editors doing their job – on Capitol Hill, in the White House Briefing Room, and elsewhere. As Justice Brandeis said, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” That’s true for all Americans but perhaps especially for Christians, who should have no fear in searching-out the truth. A free press matters; this presentation and conversation to follow will explore why.

Josh Good is the director of the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, which houses Faith Angle Forum, a program he led from 2018-24. The program aims to strengthen reporting and commentary on how religious believers, religious convictions, and religiously grounded moral arguments affect our politics and public life. Previously, Good served as a director for the Kern Family Foundation’s Faith, Work, and Economics Program and, prior to that, as manager of the American Enterprise Institute’s Values & Capitalism Initiative—an outreach program to American religious colleges. Josh was also a private sector consultant who supported responsible fatherhood initiatives, and a program officer for a national public-private partnership that built collaborations between urban congregations and businesses to serve ex-prisoners. He holds a B.A. in history from Covenant College and an M.T.S. in religion and policymaking from Harvard University. His work has been published by Routledge University Press and in National Review, The Hill, The Washington Times, The Federalist, The American, and Capital Commentary.

This talk is a part of our Founding Freedoms Lecture Series, that seeks to help Capitol Hill Staff think more deeply about the freedoms bequeathed to this nation – and the religious tenets that undergird them.