 In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote, we're left me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government. I should not hesitate for a moment for the latter, but I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. With these words, Jefferson captured the inextricable connection of a free press and public education. More than two centuries later, with the current attacks on both of these institutions, we need to reexamine and reinforce the value of their synergy. Without a free press, the stories told by any entity with power and wealth, yet government, industry, or individual, can and will become de facto our history. In this era of fake news and authoritarian leadership, we see the power of those forces misshape public perception and manipulate public opinion. Over the years, these stories will form an education of our youth. If students are fed lies and distortions and the guise of fact, they'll be unable to grow up as the kind of citizens our democracy requires. In the words of the Washington Post, democracy dies in darkness. Only a free press, empowered question and prioritize and ensure that we all get the honest information we need to make the evidenced based decisions that enable us to perform our civic duties. Likewise, a free press depends on citizens that insist the press do its duty. A free press and educated citizens are key partners in preserving our democracy. Our exponentially increasing sources of information make it difficult to determine if information is accurate, unbiased, and complete. In social media, a cacophony of voices, many claiming facts or contradicting facts claimed by others, vie for our attention. Many people shut out voices that conflict with their own views and hear only those that confirm their own perspectives. In this environment, the need for a trustworthy free press, skeptical, observant, and scrupulously honest is greater than ever before, as is the need for public seek and protect such a press. Our president is at war with the press and any journalist who criticizes him. Market see changes have been undermining the viability of the press for years. Newspaper circulation has declined by half since 1990. At the same time, how a funding for public education is declining. More than half of the states now receive less for education than they did a decade ago. Angry protest and polarization of our schools, our schools undermine civic engagement, which is so critical to education and learning. These factors do not bode well for our citizens or our democracy. I am fortunate enough to host live stream talk shows, including likeable science on Think Tech Hawaii, a Hawaii nonprofit that promotes constructive civic engagement. Funded by the generosity of community minded supporters, it has developed a new high tech media model for content production through citizen journalism. The value of citizen journalism is that the people involved become more actively engaged, and a thoughtful examination of the world around them. In so doing, they bring their friends and associates into the process. These friends then in turn become more actively engaged. This experience broadens our perspectives and better connects us with each other for a more perfect union. To that end, we should all engage in this Jeffersonian exchange of ideas. By that interaction, we can build a more dynamic productive community dialogue, and we can become more aware and better informed. We can better separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the fiction, and the priorities from the distractions, raising the clarity of our collective thinking, and thus the prospects for our community, our society, and our nation. The Lord knows we need that clarity in these difficult devices at a very interesting time.