To the Baltimore City Paper; a letter from a concerned Canadian citizen.
"I deplore... the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them... These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food. As vehicles of information and a curb on our funtionaries, they have rendered themselves useless by forfeiting all title to belief... This has, in a great degree, been produced by the violence and malignity of party spirit." --Thomas Jefferson to Walter Jones, 1814. ME 14:46
"Our printers raven on the agonies of their victims, as wolves do on the blood of the lamb." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1811. ME 13:59
"From forty years' experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, and almost never worth notice." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1816. ME 14:430
"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day." --Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 1807. ME 11:224
"As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers." --Thomas Jefferson to Barnabas Bidwell, 1806. ME 11:118
"Advertisements... contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper." --Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Macon, 1819. ME 15:179
"The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Seymour, 1807.
Someone on Reddit suggested that we ought to fax a .pdf of the imgur album proving your obvious and blatant lies and efforts to disparage a woman for no reason other than vindictive malicious cruelty, but I have decided that it would be far better to attempt to educate you. I know you will not listen to reasonable admonishment, which is a tragedy unto itself, but I will still make the effort, because you betray your country, you betray the protestors in Baltimore, and you betray your profession, by spreading falsehoods all in the effort to receive views or make your message known.
The Freedom of the Press that the first amendment of the US Constitution protects was established in an effort to curb the efforts of tyranny, and keep the public informed on matters of importance. The US Government may not infringe upon this freedom, or censor the Press from publishing the truth about institutional happenings. The Press is the watchdog of the people of the United States of America, constantly vigilant for any and all circumstances that may arise that the public must know about. The workings of politics, the workings of industry and commerce, and even the workings of nature: the public relies upon the Press for information regarding these facets of our social human existence.
However, this freedom comes with a heavy price and responsibility: the Press must uphold their integrity in the pursuit of the truth, not in the pursuit of any other ideal. When the Press becomes corrupt with political, social or economic bias, it is not the Press who immediately suffers, but rather the institution of the United States of America, and the citizens therein. When the Press commits a disservice such as the dissemination of false information to the public, the people suffer: the people who give the Press their trust and their support, the people who rely upon a free and unbiased press.
This is what your blog posts (made without thought or consideration for the livelihood of the young woman you libelously smeared) manage to accomplish. Every page, every paragraph, indeed every sentence and word that you have posted wounds the United States of America and humanity as a whole. No longer can your establishment be considered fair or democratic. You prey upon the citizens of the United States of America in the exact same way as a dictator would; fear, intimidation and the social destruction of the people who need you and trust in you most.
Do not pretend for even a moment that your lies are anything short of what they are. You did not misspeak; you willfully and ignorantly disparaged a young woman in the hope of furthering your social bias, instead of reporting truthfully and honestly about the events transpiring in Baltimore. You chose to make someone a villain in order to evoke an emotional response from your readers, likely for shock value, and you knowingly and truthfully committed this heinous action despite the responsibility to the public that you should hold dear as members of the Fifth Estate.
She openly fears for her safety because of your words, and loses a little bit of the freedom that all citizens of the United States of America should enjoy. She worries about being attacked in public, on a train, or in the street, because she might be noticed due to the images you posted and the false, dangerous context which you provided. You have openly worked to destroy her. What will happen in the coming weeks, when her employer sees the image of her that you have made infamous, fighting with a man for her own purse, and reads the lie that you posted referencing it? What will happen when she tries to move forward with her life and finds herself given a false reputation based on the context that you have irresponsibly written her into? What about potential employers that see her and remember her from your libelous lies?
If the United States of America is going to continue to be free, to progress into the society that it deserves to become where all people, regardless of their background, can be treated fairly and equally in society and before the law, institutions such as yours should be destroyed. When self-proclaimed journalists such as yourselves begin reporting falsehoods as facts and insinuating criminal activity in innocent civilians, and damage the character of the people that the industry of the Press is supposed to serve and protect from the workings of tyranny, the entire foundation of the United States of America (the most free, powerful, successful nation in the history of human civilization) becomes destroyed.
You are killing the United States of America. If you have any integrity left, you will disband your paper, resign from the field of journalism, and seek employment in a field where you cannot abuse the power vested in you by your trusting readers who should demand the truth.
Thank you.