It is clear that the internet is today's printing press. However, around the time when the printing press was invented there was a little something that was a part of our democracy called "Freedom of Press". According to wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_press) freedom of press is defined as the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials. Without Net Neutrality, someone on the other end, whether it be the government or internet provider, will control what sites people can visit on their computers.
When it comes to this, online journalism will be limited. Not everything will be seen or heard. If this happens whoever controlling the internet would be breaking the freedom of press law. Simply, there would be no freedom of speech on the internet. The people who control the viewings of websites will have the ability to just pick and choose to their likings/preferences as to who the people should hear from. They might say "Oh, I don't like this journalist -----, take him out of the mix and just let them view ------'s journalism". It don't make sense. That is basically breaking the freedom of press and speech law. Net Neutrality can make for some serious lawsuits and consequences, I feel.
As we have seen because of the slow death of newspapers and the growth of online journalism, having net neutrality is what made it that way. The internet opens the doors to so many different topics, opinion, reports etc... Because of Net Neutrality more and more different forms of journalism have been taken place. The best thing about it is that it let's everyone's voice be heard if they choose so through many forms of communication (video, writing, sounds). You can access everything easily because it is open. There is no such thing as an internet that is bias towards one thing or another. It hasn't been since the beginning of computers and it should stay that way especially now. The future of journalism is going to be all about the internet. It has shown statistically that people prefer the internet over newspapers these days. It has been proven in a news article from Breitbart in 2008 (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081224183017.jxmbrdyb) that 40 percent of Americans prefer their news in an online form as opposed to only 35 percent who said they prefer it in newspaper form (the number of people for the internet news has probably gone up since 2008) Now, without net neutality (in newspaper neutrality) it's like your taking someone's newspaper away even though it's still being printed. Why would you do that? Because journalism is growing on the internet it is important that we maintain Net Neutrality.
These days our country should realize that we need all the news, marketing ideas, etc.. that we can get to better ourselves in this tough economy. If they notice how many people are relying on the internet now for it's source of journalism, why would you even attempt to cut it down? The FCC should continue to keep the door open for new and innovative forms of technology regarding journalism. Freedom of the Press should not stop online, not at a time like this when it's only growing.
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