Off The Editor’s Desk – 9-4-2019
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Another Year at the Newspaper Museum!
After more than twenty-years with the Minnesota Newspaper Foundation’s Newspaper Museum at the Minnesota State Fair, I have told the powers that be that I would be slowing down my participation at the museum, following this year’s fair, which ended on Monday.
Don’t get me wrong, everything is fine, but I am getting old and standing on my feet for six to eight hours a day for 10 days of the 12-day fair, plus a half dozen days before the fair starts, has taken its toll on me. Plus the other things that I do brought me to that conclusion.
So, I will still spend a couple of days each year there, but I am turning my duties over to a much younger, young lady.
The museum at the Minnesota State Fair shows what a working small town newspaper office of eighty years ago would have looked like. It contains all the elements of that small town’s newspaper, including hand set type, Linotypes, proof press, a two-page newspaper press, folder and a job printing shop, all in working order and up and running during the fair while printing a daily newspaper. It takes about ninety volunteers to keep the doors open for the 12 days of the fair.
But, more important, the work of the museum is its message about the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment gives us the five freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of these United States. But those freedoms have been passed on to anyone who can set foot on American soil. Those five are: Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition. The museum has displayed the 45 words of the First Amendment on the back wall of the building for many years. But three years ago three young ladies with letterpress printing backgrounds approached the museum board about the idea of printing a poster with the First amendment on it and in color. I was hesitant about that idea, but it turned out to be a very big success and we hand out several thousand of those posters each year.
Big win for freedom of speech!
Last Thursday morning when I arrived at the museum, I found a pile of the Minneapolis Star-Tribunes on the floor to be given away. I opened it and found story on the editorial page that fell right into the message that the museum has had to tell.
I would like to re-print some of the story about a Minnesota Couple, Angel and Carl Larsen who claim to be professional storytellers.
“Through our family business,” they say, “We produce short films, commercials and documentaries.
“To our dismay, several years ago we learned about a Minnesota law, or rather, the unusual application of one, that sought to interfere with our filmmaking choices. According to state officials, this law would force us to create films promoting messages in conflict with our deepest beliefs.
“The state’s position put us to a terrible choice, We could bend to the state’s interpretation of the law and compromise our faith; we could follow our faith and risk severe penalties, including fines, damages, or even jail time; or we could ask a court to vindicate our fundamental rights before we entered the wedding film industry.”
They opted for court with the simple issue, could the state tell them what to say in making their films? Larsen questioned, “Can the state force filmmakers to create content that violates their core beliefs?”
“Minnesota said ‘yes’ we said ‘no’. On August 23, a federal appeals court issued a strong ruling in favor of our free speech rights.”
Minnesota has seen elected officials attempt to stop information that may not be appealing to some of those elected officials. Back about ninety years ago a local government attempted to place restriction on a Tabloid printer that was not liked by the city government. That case went to the United States Supreme Court and upheld the Tabloid’s right to print without interference from the local government. That ruling is where the term “Fourth Estate” came from.
Larsen stated, “We cannot create films that celebrate any conception of marriage other than a lifelong covenant between one man and one women, and it’s this stance that set us in the cross hairs of state officials.”
He concluded, “The Constitution ensures that everyone enjoys the same freedoms, not the same beliefs. The August 23rd decision reaffirmed that principal. As a result, Minnesotans can more confidently live and work consistently with their deepest beliefs, no matter who they are. That’s something we can all celebrate.”
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton