NAB's Smith Touts Local Press Freedoms

Gordon Smith

NAB President Gordon Smith touted the importance of broadcasters’ “vital role” in American society as providing knowledge that is “the most absolute and necessary ingredient to public discoursem” report TV NewsCheck.

After quoting James Madison, Smith said that’s why today — nearly 250 years later — “the right to speak freely without fear of incrimination, the right of the press to challenge the government and root out corruption, remains one of the most important rights our founders enshrined in the Constitution.”

He said that keeping the keystone of freedom securely in place — the freedom of speech and of the press — is our highest calling.” And, he added, “broadcasters have been, and continue to be, proud stewards of these ideals in the modern media age.”

Smith spoke to the Media Institute in Washington on Tuesday, offering an endorsement of over-the-air broadcasting and spelling out many of the issues the industry is grappling with.

Following last week’s election, he said, “There has been a great deal of focus on the media’s role during and following the election. For broadcasters in particular, self-evaluation is nothing new; as part of their mission, broadcasters constantly reflect upon how they do their jobs and seek ways to better serve the public. This includes questions about the amount and type of information explored to fact-checking and evaluating what issues really matter to the American people. This is happening now, as it happens after every election.

“When Americans want ‘just the facts,’ they know they can turn to their local stations to get the news straight, without the shouting, finger-pointing and drama. When they want to find out what’s going on in their community — like what’s happening in their schools, if their favorite sports team is winning or what the weather will be — they tune into their local stations.”