Freedom of the Press is arguably the most fundamental pillar to upholding a democracy.

Without the transparency it offers, government and its officials are able to abuse their power with little to no repercussion. And as we know power corrupts. Absolute power, well that corrupts absolutely.

 I’ve seen it first hand. I lived in a Central Asian republic. It boasted a golden statue of the president, mounted on three legs towering over all the other buildings in an eerily quiet capital city.

People there didn’t speak of their leader except in hushed tones of reverence. My house was bugged, my phone calls mysteriously ended after exactly an hour. My mail was stolen, and I was followed.  

The leader’s portrait framed in gold and perched on high on every other building. Welcome to 1984: he’s big brother and he is staring down at his subjects at every turn. He named himself president for life, and he named his term the Golden Age.  

The government-run media bragged of his amazing feats, running photos of him clad in white and smiling – a benevolent leader. On the country’s only three TV channels – government owned — young students performed dances and sung him praise. Government officials donned their best attire to attend mandatory government functions, of which, he was center-stage. 

Turkmen media didn’t tell of the political prisoners, labor camps, abstract poverty, poor medical care, tuberculosis epidemic, or sale of women as brides. It didn’t talk about sexual assault, illiteracy, rampant drug use and prostitution, the political system, or the rising inflation. It didn’t speak of the rich expanses of gas reserves underneath its desert sands that Russia, China and the U.S. still drool over.

Then Turkmenbashy, self-named the head of all Turkmen, died. 

The westerners were somewhat hopeful. Internet became legal, albeit hard to obtain. The golden framed photos started to disappear. That obnoxious golden statue, dubbed three legs, was coming down.

Would the former soviet state open itself to information? With that information, could Turkmen demand a free media? With access to international media, would we see Turkmen rise and demand to be heard — voices that have literally been silenced since the dawn of the 20^th century? Was this the beginning of a democracy?

In 2007, we were praying for an Arab Spring in Turkmenistan.

But the creepy portraits returned — this time of the newly appointed President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, a dentist by trade, rumored to be the illegitimate son of Turkmenbashy.  A new golden statue of the Berdimuhamedov mounted on a horse, replaced three legs. The era was now named the Supreme Era of Happiness. Crowds of government employees greet the president wherever he goes, singing his praise and dancing.

And the Turkmen media continues to run puff stories, exalting their beloved leader.   

As a member of a faltering line of a vanishing press corps, I stand pen in hand, question in mind, ready to record what our society’s public officials, our criminals and our courts are doing.  

I don’t do it for the pay. I do it because we, as members of the public have a right to know and to hold our public servants accountable for their actions. We have a right to know where and how our tax dollars are being spent.

I do it because places like North Korea and Turkmenistan are frighteningly real. And without a free press, their leaders are free to do as they wish, with sickening disregard for the wellbeing of the majority of the little people who suffer the deadly consequences of their leaders’ selfish decisions.

A free press is a crucial element of keeping those in power in check.

Recently, I was contacted by the mother of Jason Washington, the former Griz football player who was convicted in the spring on federal drug charges for operating a medical marijuana business. She suggested that I interview him in prison while he was temporarily located to Missoula County.

We in the newsroom agreed. After all, he was operating a medical marijuana business when the business was booming and legal under state statute. The feds are presently attempting to appeal his sentence and replace it with a longer one. He is one of two that have served such severe sentences in Montana, and I have to ask, does he really deserve it?

Would our hard-earned tax money be better spent targeting methamphetamine dealers, building roads, schools, or improving the healthcare infrastructure?

Enter bureaucracy: the bane of my existence and the threat to transparency.

I called the jail Wednesday and was denied access until Thursday.

Thursday I called and asked to interview Washington.

Yes, you can see him Friday at 8:30 a.m. No pens, no paper, no recording devices, no camera, even though there is a glass panel between us, she said.

When I told her I was a member of the press, she rudely told me it didn’t matter.

It was rumored that he would leave tomorrow morning, though. Could I get in today?

 No. No. No.

I called the commander at the jail and she directed me to the federal marshals. The marshals said I needed to obtain written permission from both attorneys and the judge before I am able to interview him. That’s the policy that has been handed down to him from a supervisor on a national level.

“It’s for his own protection,” he said.

 I sniffed some serious B.S.

I called Washington’s mother in frustration. We decided he should call me from prison—a 20 minute phone call was better than nothing. To make a short story, long, it took me two hours, three credit cards and some maneuvering of identities between me and a fellow colleagues, before I was able to put money on the phone so Washington could call me.

Then, Friday morning, he moved prisons.

A free press is a pillar that stands between democracy and tyranny – as evidenced in the former soviet republics of Central Asia.  When the government intentionally darkens the glass of transparency with bureaucratic nonsense, we tread a very fine line. I can hurdle over the obstacles thrown at me, but these obstacles are no longer glitches in the road. They are impassable mountains.

 In short, it’s not for U.S. attorneys, a judge, or U.S. marshals to decide if I can interview a federal prisoner. In fact, they have no control over who I interview or what I write.  

If they prefer to have that control, I encourage them to visit Turkmenistan and experience firsthand the Supreme Era of Happiness. Try not to catch tuberculosis.  

There’s public interest in Jason Washington. We have a right to know.