Statement from the Big Easy Magazine Editorial Board

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First and foremost Amendment to the Constitution. It provides protections just as all the other amendments.  Yet we find ourselves today as the leader of the free world, the very leader who swore an oath to preserve, uphold and defend this very document, doing the exact opposite by verbally attacking journalists, encouraging violence, and calling the free press, “the enemy of the American people.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. We ARE the American people. We are their voice when others try to silence. We are the eyes when others wish to blind. We are the ears that listen while others ignore.

The United Nations has condemned these remarks. The White House refuses to admit the press is not the enemy.  Yet here we are in a nation where journalists are being attacked and murdered for doing their job.

While we here at Big Easy Magazine are not of the press in the traditional sense of having a printing press, we pride ourselves on our journalistic integrity and background and stand alongside our 300 strong newspapers and thousands of journalists across this nation and denounce this current administrations attack on the institution of free press in the United States of America.

As our enemies the Nazi’s during the 1940’s, and Communists in the 1950’s spoke similar words, we denounce such vile attacks and vow to fight to uphold the First Amendment and a free press with our keyboards, our pens, our cameras, and every outlet and tool available in this ever-evolving field.

We ask all newspapers, magazines, TV stations, and citizen journalists to join us in taking a stand. We are not the enemy. The First Amendment, on which all other amendments stand, must be defended. Without it, all others fall.