Minnesota Rag by Fred Friendly

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Although his name is hardly a household word , the ghost of Jay M Near still stalks most U .S . courtrooms . There exists no plaque that bears his name .Near is truy the unknown soldier in the continuing struggle between the powers of government and the power of the press to publish the news (Friendly , 172

Fred Friendly , journalist , wrote of the struggle men , such as Jay M Near , fought

in their determination to live the American dream . Their dream may not be acknowledged by the general public , but Near and his peers were trying to live the rights bestowed upon them as Americans Among those rights were the right to free speech , and freedom of the press . The reason Near is not a household name is because his cause may not have been seen by many to be noble . If fought today , his cause or his dream would be likened to that of The Enquirer or The Star . In fact , Friendly , in Minnesota Rag : Corruption , Yellow Journalism , and the Case That Saved Freedom of The Press , described Near vs . Minnesota as a cast that placed freedom of the press in the least favorable light . Minnesota Rag , by Fred Friendly , traces the roots of this case all the way back to Duluth , Minnesota , beginning with a man by the name of James Morrison , who edited the Rip-Saw . Morrison is described as a self-righteous man , willing to do anything to prove his point . He saw a need in Duluth to expose the lawmakers for what they were . It was a time of prohibition and Morrison saw failure in politicians and corruption in the police . The Rip-Saw , as described by Friendly , was relentless . Once it had a victim in its sights , it didn 't stop until its prey was wounded (Friendly , 8

The Rip-Saw became a popular success . The prohibition had been a failure and opened the door for Morrison to attack . He ran storied of gambling dens increasing , prostitution and politicians , but did so under the guise of moral decency , which led the general public to believe him and the Rip-Saw . The business sector did not have as much faith in Morrison or the Rip-Saw . They accused him or trying to force businesses to buy advertising in to eliminate the risk of gossip

Morrison was a single man trying to affect an entire community into believing and acting on his morals . He had identified what he thought was just and decent and insisted that the rest of the community live by his law , or be punished . His punishment was to be published as a headline in his in a non-flattering and often libelous manner . He took it upon himself to judge the morals of others . Morrison had an impact on local elections with the stories he printed , whether true or untrue

When finally brought to court on charges of libel , Morrison was...