By: Karolina Granda, Editor-in-Chief
The power of journalism
Moraine Valley Composition II students should be familiar with the dystopian societies presented in 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Both books express a rather selfish nature amongst main characters who aim to lead a life free of government-instituted knowledge interference. They fight for a life fluent in expression, reading, listening, and speaking. To summarize, both central characters end up successfully fulfilling this goal of free expression and education. In relation to our society, it seems that we exist amongst these characters’ dream lives. We have the freedom to voice our thoughts and learn from others. So then, what is our end goal? In a world where distraction and anxiety are beginning to take a self-instilled hold on our lives, it is unclear what we aim to accomplish by doing so. Unfortunately, a concept that is obvious is the way we are holding back our constitutional right to pursue unrestricted communication. We are witnessing a denial of unrestricted communication through The Washington Post’s recent staff dismissals.
Washington Post employee lay off
As of February 4, 2026, The Washington Post made the frightening address that it would be “laying off one-third of its work force, sharply scaling back the paper’s coverage of sports and foreign news,” (February 2026, BBC). Written reports offer Americans easy access to information, thoughts, opinions, politics, current events – and thus, are a core element to the function of our society. Knowing this, it is unfortunate that we are at a collective decline in the respect we have for this field. Furthermore, the first amendment grants that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Although these layoffs are not a direct violation of such freedoms, they are setting a moral restraint on these rights.
A word from Glacier student staff
To truly get a grasp on what journalism means to its participants and the way in which journalists have been impacted by these limitations, our very own Moraine Valley Glacier staff has offered to provide their input. News section writer Jonah Marshall stated, “When you make cuts on journalism what you end up doing is silencing voices.” Jonah is right in feeling this way, as cuts in journalism are equivalent to cuts in communication. Another one of the Glacier’s news section writers, Lemuel Kemp shared his perspective. The student staff member notably declared, “American greed will be the death of us all; but not before it gets good media, good stories, and honest journalism.” Essentially, those at the ‘top of the ladder’ so to speak, such as Jeff Bezos who laid off a third of Washington Post staff, are making these cuts out of selfish efforts. It is difficult to recognize at the moment, but they will come tumbling down with their moves toward American society’s approaching collapse.
