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The journalist was pretty scared. Of course she was. She’d been threatened by an Uber executive who was shocked — shocked! — that a reporter would report — report! —on his company. In retaliation for her having the gall to fulfill her professional duties, he suggested, Uber could rummage through the details of her personal life and fling any trash it found.

But when Uber scared the journalist last week, most of us weren’t scared along with her. Of course we weren’t.

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Where journalism is regarded primarily as a private, profit-driven enterprise rather than respected as a public good, it’s harder to equate our own freedom — which depends on having access to information — to freedom of the press. And where most press freedoms are classified as negative freedoms — which are limited to preventing direct government censorship, not designed to proactively support media access — it’s harder to protect the multiple requirements of transparency and accountability.