As the USA turns 250, we need a resolved, courageous — and unfettered — press

Fueled by politics, today we see a coordinated effort to whitewash or entirely erase those parts of history that make us feel uncomfortable, ashamed or angry. Allied with historians, librarians and educators, the press plays a vital role in preserving that history. And it is critical that news media rises to the occasion of this perilous moment.”

Gretchen A. Peck, editor-in-chief, E&P Magazine

I hope as you read this month’s magazine, you’ll get a sense of how much care we took in making it. There are some marvelously inspiring people among the pages, such as the undeniably engaging Emily Sweeney, the veteran Boston Globe crime reporter who became a viral sensation on social media this year.

You’ll meet Stacy Kess, founder of the Organization for Accessible Journalism, who spoke with E&P’s Tandy Lau about taking the experience of a horrific accident and turning it into a mission — to help make journalism more accessible.

In Diane Sylvester’s look at several Pulitzer-winning projects, you’ll get to know Photographer Jahi Chikwendiu. Reporting for The Washington Post, Chikwendiu astutely captured photos of an American family — the Tanners — as they navigated a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis and the pending birth of a child.

And you’ll meet Elsa Cooke Verbyla, publisher of the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal in Virginia’s Tidewater region. In the spring, Verbyla responded to E&P’s open call to newsrooms. For the cover story, we wanted to hear how the news media around the country planned to commemorate the USA at 250. The Gazette-Journal is planning a special section, enthusiastically supported by local advertisers. It includes local Revolutionary War-period history. Verbyla speaks with encyclopedic knowledge of local history — a depth of expertise curated over a lifetime in local news. The Gazette-Journal is a family business.

In anticipation of this month’s magazine — and the United States’ milestone birthday — I spent hours going down the fun rabbit hole that is E&P’s digital archive. It’s a searchable database going back to 1905. Flipping through the years, you get a sense of what was on the front pages of newspapers: the invention of TV, efficacy of the polio vaccine, the dawn of transatlantic flight, the Apollo 11 lunar landing, the debut of the personal computer, and so many more examples of American progress and ingenuity.

It’s also a window into how the country’s history has been punctuated by periods of hardship, violence and wars — even one fought within our borders.

Fueled by politics, today we see a coordinated effort to whitewash or entirely erase those parts of history that make us feel uncomfortable, ashamed or angry. Allied with historians, librarians and educators, the press plays a vital role in preserving that history. And it is critical that news media rises to the occasion of this perilous moment. As we bear witness to injustice, corruption or the creep of authoritarianism, journalists must document it and spread the word. When the First Amendment comes under attack, the news media must passionately defend it.

But don’t count the USA out. Ours is a resilient nation, as Elsa Cooke Verbyla reminded me: “I don’t like seeing the nation so divided, but I keep telling myself it’s been much worse. Right here, Virginia seceded, and the Civil War came through. And I am old enough to remember the Civil Rights riots. We’ve had so much loss of life and destruction, but we’ve gotten through it somehow.”

May the lessons of the past lead our Nation to a brighter tomorrow.

Gretchen A. Peck is E&P’s editor-in-chief. She welcomes your emails at editor@editorandpublisher.com.