Abridge? Too Far Dept.

It’s Free Press!

At the time of Georgian reign,
It would publish Thomas Paine,
Print a broadside, card or handbill
Handed with a quill, by candle.
Page a hornbook for young students,
Schooling homilies of prudence.
Line the text for each Poor Richard’s
After Ben decided which words—
       Insurrection coming ripe,
       Its essence set in type.
Revolutionary papers
Putting Parliament in vapors,
Touched the British King with dread.
Swing the bar! Squeeze the bed!
It’s free press!

2
Eighteen hundred saw advances,
Added readers, richer chances!
Bold newspapers for the many,
Some were had at two-a-penny.
Thought and theory still in fever,
Rising age of the achiever,
Came a torrent of editions
For all; farmers to physicians—
       Webster, Douglass, (Poe!)
       Harriet Beecher Stowe.
From St. Louis to Manhattan;
“Git that devil! ink the platen!
We’ve a deadline coming Frank!”
Haul the handle! Roll and clank!
It's free press!

3
Came the big Webb and the Rotos
First engravings then with photos,
(And that righteous holy see,
The Editorial 'We')
Where the jobsticks once were packing
Now a linotype is clacking,
Miles of paper whirl a sprocket
Near a pace too fast to clock it—
       Writers free to write,
       Any censor sees a fight!
Packed with copy more discursive,
From the safe to the subversive.
Lighting truth is yet the goal,
Hear it rumble! See it roll!
It's free press!

4
After Tesla sparked ambition
For a crackling new transmission
Came news radio debuting
(Thirty years would see us viewing!)
Heard the crack of Babe Ruth batting,
F.D.R. and fireside chatting.
From the brave war-correspondents
Honest story not despondence—
       Mr. Murrow held the air,
       Pyle and Shirer over there.
Growing twice a thousand stations,
In this freest of all nations
What you say is your affair.
Cue the Anchor! On the air!
It's free press!

5
How did freedom’s institution
Garner privileged absolution?
With the bar to publish falling;
Unrestricted pages sprawling,
Now we hear of regulation
On the spread of information!
Will we let F.E.C. leaven
As in 1637—
       Or license, as of yore;
       England 1644 ?
Seeing Blogger publication
Is a forward incarnation,
Raising questions of old orders;
Information without borders,
Let abridgment build a caste?
Free the linking! Keep it vast!
It’s free press!

Notes

   posted by Stephen at 10:42 PM | Plink