Why Spielberg’s ‘The Post’ matters

Banned: Posters advertising Steven Spielberg’s latest film ‘The Post’ at a cinema in Beirut. General Security, which in addition to controlling Lebanon’s borders, is responsible for censoring films, announced it was banning the Hollywood thriller to comply with an Arab League boycott targeting supporters of Israel. In a rare move, the interior ministry chose not to sign off on the decision. — AFP

I FULLY agree with renown director Steven Spielberg that there is an urgency to make his latest movie, The Post. The 2017 movie is a stark reminder of the need to free the media from interferences of any kind, political or otherwise.

The Fourth Estate is the bedrock of democracy. No two ways about it. Whether we like it or not, democracy depends on a free press. Lacking that, democracy is flawed. Thomas Jefferson famously said that the press serves “as the public independent watchdog, charged with keeping governments, businesses and other organisations in check.”