Don Lemon, the First Amendment, and the Crisis in Modern Journalism

Happy Saturday. A few headlines collided this week in a way that exposes something bigger than any one person: we’re living through a time when journalism, activism, and click-chasing are getting mashed into the same bowl—then served to the public as “news.”

And it’s not just a media problem. It’s a civic literacy problem.

I want to walk through the Don Lemon situation from a perspective that I don’t hear much in the commentary space: I have a journalism background, and I’ve seen firsthand what the profession is supposed to be. I graduated with a journalism degree, worked for newspapers in North Jersey, and even interviewed Gerald Ford when I was 19. I know what it means to cover a story, to write a story, and to stay out of the story.

That last part matters more than ever.

The real problem isn’t “left vs. right”

A lot of people want to shove every conversation into a predictable partisan script: “your side is bad, my side is good.” I’m not here for that.

I’m here for balls and strikes.

Because whether you’re progressive, conservative, libertarian, or someone who hates every label, most Americans actually want a pretty similar list of things:

Safer communities

A stable economy

A future for their kids

Laws that are enforced consistently