I believe that a free and independent press is an essential ingredient of American democracy. So I was horrified to learn that Republican Senate candidates Don Bolduc and Corky Messner are joining President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media.
Corky Messner said on Facebook Live that Donald Trump is right in calling the press “fake news” and in alleging that journalists “make stuff up.” Don Bolduc went further, saying said we should “take national media and shut it down and see what happens.” These attempts to intimidate and threaten the press violates the values that our country was founded on.
These proposals might earn the candidates points with Trump, but they are dangerous for New Hampshire and the entire country. If people who agree with Bolduc and Messner had their way, any news that differed with the government’s line would be silenced. Misinformation would take over even more, and people wouldn’t know where to turn for reliable information, even in times of a global pandemic.
Bolduc, Messner and Trump are working to damage our free press and free thought, and that would be really damaging to our ability to remain free, and to the values that make America the great county that it is.
Neither Don Bolduc nor Corky Messner is the kind of senator that New Hampshire deserves.
WALKER BROWN
Hooksett