Joe Biden and Donald Trump must assure us they'd protect the First Amendment. Will they?

Welcome to the first presidential debate. I know the world and America are vexed by so many problems, but Mr. President and Mr. Trump, I’d like to focus my questions tonight on just the First Amendment, that tricky document of 45 words that guarantees free speech and free press and directs much of the fate of democracy. Your answers will tell us: do you trust that information will enable self-government or do you seek an authoritarian control of the debate?

Will you protect the kids?

The Internet and social media are now, of course, universal parts of our lives — for belter and worse. Are you committed to fixing them? Young people are lured to dangerous places; teens are regularly threatened and harassed; teen suicide is at an all-time high; easy access to violent videos is commonplace.

Do you believe the First Amendment permits aggressive regulation of Facebook, Instagram, Google and Apple? Do you think federal regulations are needed or is that censorship? Do you believe social media should have the same protections as mainstream media?

Both of you have been rather silent on what might be one of the most epidemic problems we face: 23 million kids have been bullied or harassed. Mr. Trump, you mostly complain that Google isn’t nice to you in its searches.  But what about dangerous behavior of profiteering media moguls that endanger teens? What legislation will you support?

Mr. President, you have filed four lawsuits against the Big Tech companies, yet you have cozied up to them to make them carry your message on COVID-19 vaccines. Can you really proceed with old boy politics when young people are suffering?

Night and day

That is what the Columbia Journalism Review calls the difference between how the press has been treated in the Trump and Biden administrations. Mr. Trump you have disrespected the press for years, calling it the enemy of the people. And while Presidents are always adversarial with the press, you are the first President ever to completely reject the press as a partner in democracy. 

Will you respect the role of the press in providing the information that people need to truly self-govern? Or will you continue to call them the enemy, even encouraging violence towards the press?

Meet the press?

Mr. President, in your time in office, you have held the fewest press conferences since Ronald Reagan. Some say you’re fearful of tackling questions in public because of age; others say that makes no sense because in private, you are articulate and clear about your intentions. But, nonetheless, there is the record.

Mr. Trump, when you were President you met the press 88 times but often got into nasty encounters with reporters whose questions you didn’t like. So the question for both of you: do you promise to hold regular briefings for the American public, treat reporters with respect, increase the flow of information from federal agencies, and respect our long tradition of the President being accountable in front of the people?

Will you protect the press?

Since 1974, when the Supreme Court ruled that reporters should not have a special constitutional privilege to protect sources of information, Congress has tried to pass legislation that would, in essence, give reporters legal ability to shield anonymous sources.

Currently, in federal cases, reporters have no protection. They do in virtually every state. Will you support this legislation and concede that reporters, in order to scrutinize government, must have a shield and a privilege?

Are racists really good people?

Mr. Trump, after a famous — I should say infamous — rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on Aug. 12, 2017,  during your administration, white supremacists gathered. One person was killed in a car assault. Even though one side was advocating Ku Klux Klan-like policies and hurling anti-Semitic slogans, you offered the view that there were good people on both sides.

My question: do you think people who advocate white nationalist and anti-Semitic views are truly good people and should be applauded? While free speech protects even ugly speech, would you as President invite these people to your dinner table, as you did recently with two of them at Mar-a-Lago?

Moreover, will you use the “bully pulpit” to further divide America or is the First Amendment a way to offer a healing wand?

The TiKTok dilemma

One of the big issues the next president will face is China, whether on trade policy or how to handle Taiwan independence. And then there’s TikTok. Because the Chinese government can look at data collected by its private companies — TikTok is owned by a Chinese company — there is a potential problem. Will China spy on Americans?

Trump spent the weekend lying.Biden prepped. Thursday's debate will be interesting.

Do you really think you can seize the private property of a company simply because it’s foreign? Mr. Trump, you have flip-flopped on this issue from seizing TikTok to leaving it alone. Which is it?

Mr. President, you have been very aggressive in pursuing media monopolies, but TikTok isn’t a monopoly. Would you try to force ownership to sell? Is that fair to the millions who now use it for both entertainment and information? And even if the Chinese tried to search TikTok data, is that any worse than Google and Amazon which track our every move?

Let's be honest.The Biden-Trump debates could be a welcomed break for angry voters.

Is transparency dead?

Now to COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. Mr. Trump, much of the COVID-19 problem begins during your administration when misinformation and outright lying took place.(And 400,000 people died!)  For example, the  public had little knowledge about how sick you were when you got COVID-19. Very little transparency.

Mr. President, during your term, you have put tremendous pressure on the social media outlets — some people call it coercion and a compelling case against you is now in the Supreme Court. The alleged coercion relates to your antitrust lawsuits against Big Tech, who have felt undo pressure to fall into line with Administration policy on COVID-19.

Everyone was scared to ask tough questions about vaccines and alternative treatments. Those who dared were booted off social media platforms. Can you promise, both of you, that there will be more transparency, more open debate and discussion and less attempts by the government to censor opponents?

Vaccine for book burning epidemic?

The nation has been rightly concerned about COVID-19, but we are also facing another epidemic — the banning of books in schools, especially from religious right conservatives. The uptick in censorship is on gender identity issues: in 2020, 40% of the 2,532 bans addressed LGBTQ themes.

Will you fight the book burning and allow the education community — without coercion — to make proper decisions on the books our kids can read? Will you embrace that a book with an LGBTQ theme opens the door to important inquiry, no matter our point of view?

Who is the real enemy?

Walter Lippmann, a political philosopher and journalist, once wrote: “A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society.” Do you embrace that concept or will you go along with those who say the press is our enemy? Do you embrace liberty or authoritarianism?

Rob Miraldi’s First Amendment writing has won numerous awards. He taught journalism at the State University of New York for many years. Twitter: @miral98; email: rob.miraldi@gmail.com