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4 . BEACON NEWSPAPER, MARCH 4 ,2 0 1 0 Í T O R I A L : ... ^ mSæïïmâæL We’d rave about newspapers if they were invented today I can understand why newspapers are not viewed as trendy today. After all, they were really the iPods o f 1690. But humor me, and consider this alternate history: Imagine if Gutenberg had invented a digital modem rather than a printing press, and that for centuries all o f our information had come to us online. Further, imagine i f we held a press conference an nouncing the invention o f an intriguing new product called the “newspaper.” That press conference might go something like this: W ere pleased to announce a new product that will revolutionize the way you access information. It will save you time and money and keep you better informed than ever before. Just consider the hours you’ve spent on the Inter net looking for information o f interest to you. We’ve hired specialists who live and work in your home town to cull information sources and provide a daily report tailored to yóur community, your friends and your neighbors. We also know that you sometimes wonder whether you can trust the information you see online. We plan to introduce a painstaking new process called “fact checking” in which we actually verify the information before we pass it along to you. In addition to saving time online, you’ll also save money. You won’t need those expensive color ink car tridges or reams o f paper because information will be printed out for you in full color every day. You’ll also save money op access charges and those unpleasant fights over who gets time on the computer because this product will be physically delivered to your home at the same time each day, for less than what you would tip the guy from Pizza Hut. You worry about your kids stumbling across porn on the Internet, but this product is prescreened and guaranteed suitable for the whole family. And in a security breakthrough, we guarantee newspapers to be absolutely virus-free, and promise the elimination of those annoying pop-up ads. Its also the most portable product in the world, and doesn’t require batteries or electricity. And when the flight attendant tells you to turn off your electronic devices, you can actually turn this on, opening page after page without worrying about interfering with the plane’s radar. To top it all off, you don’t need a long-term war ranty or service protection program. If you’re not happy with this product on any day, we’ll redesign it and bring you a new one the next day. I can see the headlines now: “Cutting-edge newspapers threaten Google’s survival.” My point, o f course, is that newspapers remain an extraordinary information bargain, and we shouldn’t be selling them short or lose sight o f the qualities that make American journalism so critical to our democ racy. W hen we do our jobs as journalists the right way, when we strive every day to publish reports o f integ rity and balance, when we ask the tough questions, when we fight to keep the public’s business public and when we provide the kind o f thorough and balanced reporting that is the lifeblood o f a democracy, we ful fill our promise to that first generation o f Americans who believed that one o f the best ways to guarantee a democracy was a free and vigorous press. There are people counting on us. By Ken Paulsen, president o f the Newseum and the Freedom Forum , Washington, DC, and form er editor o f USA Today. The B eacon newspaper invites readers to present their views, ideas and issues. Please submit letters to the editor to us a t 65 D eer P ark Ave.,Babylon NY 11702. Letters should be signed and include a daytim e telephone num ber fo r verification purposes only. We d o not accept p ersonal thank you notes, political endorsements or anonymous letters, but will, under som e circumstances w ithhold the nam e o f a writer upon request. J R e a d e r s * V o ic e s : Letters and Cornmenta Patriotism comes in many forms; all should be respected D p a r FH itnr* Dear E d itor: “Answer found in ACLU membership” by George Henry Kotz, West Islip (Letter to the Editor, Feb. 3 and 4) ignores the reality that after “thousands o f men and women fought and died to obtain and protect” our freedoms, it is our obligation to these brave people on the front line to continue safeguarding those freedoms. It would serve us well to remember that this is a nation built upon the ideas and efforts o f many, and that we are not at liberty to pick and choose the laws we want to ignore or enforce at our convenience. Sometimes, however, idealogues will attempt to subvert this basic tenet o f our system, and it is left to us on the home front to prevent the trampling o f our rights as American citizens. An effective means o f achieving this is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the very organization that Mr. Kotz dismisses in his “answer” to Mr. Hill’s letter to the editor o f Jan. 28. The ACLU exists to protect the Constitution’s Bill o f Rights, one o f which is the First Amendment that guarantees Mr. Kotz’s right to express his uninformed innuendo (“You claim that you are a proud m ember o f the ACLU. Now I know your problem.”) that Mr. Hill has some sinister ulterior motive in rebutting his original letter to the editor. Obviously, there are some people who consider the ■ ACLU an inconvenient annoyance, perhaps even subversive. Could these people be opposed to our right o f freedom o f speech, press, religion and assembly? Do they believe we do not have equal protection under the law and can be discriminated against? How about due process and the right to privacy? It goes on...T h e y might be quite happy living in the Peoples’ Republic o f C hina ACLU founder Roger Baldwin wrote, “so long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’U b e called a democracy.” I believe that very strongly. Accordingly, during the last presidential administration I became a member o f the ACLU in its Guardian o f Freedom program. Its not how big your flag is, it’s how you wave it. Charles Litwin, Babylon Village, B E A C O N Poatage Paid - Babylon Poet Offioe. Babylon, N Y 11702 (U SPSO 396-8000) Copyright 1900 CJ PUBLISHERS, INC. “T H E P A P E R T H A T W O R K S '* A combination o f newspapers and editions covering Babylon, Undanhurat, Copiague. Maaaapaqua. AmttyvBe, North Babylon. W aat Babylon, Wyandanoh, Dear Park, Dix HUla, W haatfey Heights, W aat Islip, Brentwood. Brightwaters, Bay Shore. Islip, East islip, O akdale. Sayville, E. Patchogue, Patchogue, Bohem ia, Holbrook, North Undanhurat Main Office: 65 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, NY Official Newspaper for the Towns o f Babylon & Islip Official Newspaper forth« Village of Babylon and Babylon School District - Undanhurat School D istrict W aat Babylon School District • Dear Park School District - North Babylon School District - W est Islip School District • Copiague School District • W yandanch School District N E W S P A P E R S The Beacon— the paper that works DEADUNES FOR THE NEXT EDITION:: ADVERTISING: 3 P.M. FRIDAY EDITORIAL: 3 P.M. 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