The Fourth Branch of American Government

This is the reason we need to defend America’s free press.  

Sometimes called the “fourth estate”; the press has become the real watchdog that helps ensure the government really does the people’s will.

Just two weeks ago there was an item on 60 Minutes about a proposed law titled the Stock Act. The proposed law would outlaw the right of congressmen and senators the right to legally act on insider information that would send the rest of us to jail. The law was originally introduced in the 109th session of the House of Representatives on Mar. 28, 2006 by Brian Baird (D-WA) but it received no support at all until it was part of the television program on November 13, 2011.  As of December 2, 2011, it has 153 co-sponsors.  This never would have happened without the reporting on television.

 Last night Steve Kroft, again on 60 Minutes,  interviewed two people who were fired from big financial companies (one from Countrywide Mortgage and one from Citi-Group) because they tried to intervene in fraudulent activities.

It was the Los Angeles Times that provided the expose revealing the theft of city funds from the small city of Bell, California.  That has resulted in criminal charge against the city manager and city council members.

Between 1972 and 1976, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporting for the Washington Post,  emerged as two of the most famous journalists in the Watergate affair that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.