This is the first installment in a CNN Opinion series on the challenges facing the media, under attack from critics, governments and changing technology. Brian Stelter is CNN's senior media correspondent and the host of "Reliable Sources."

(CNN) Press freedom is YOUR freedom. That's the way I recommend thinking about "freedom of the press."

I can see why this topic might seem conceptual or vague to the average reader. Journalists have an obvious interest in preserving and expanding press freedom. The writers for this website benefit from the fact that press freedom in the United States is constitutionally protected and buttressed by cultural norms.

But it's about MORE than just journalists. Turn it around. Recognize how protections for the press benefit each and every one of us, whether we're reporting the news or reading about it.

Press freedom protects and ensures your freedom.

The First Amendment, of course, "applies only to the government," as the famed media lawyer Floyd Abrams said in his most recent book about the subject.

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