In Berlin Diary, William Shirer documented a chilling reality: Nazi Germany systematically targeted journalists. Independent reporters were harassed, censored, and eventually silenced—not for errors, but for telling the truth. Shirer, a CBS correspondent stationed in Berlin, witnessed colleagues arrested, exiled, or worse, simply for reporting facts that didn’t align with the Reich’s narrative (Shirer, 1941). Truth, under fascism, is always a threat.

Fast forward to America in 2025. The methods have changed, but the goal remains the same. Journalists today face smear campaigns, doxxing, algorithmic throttling, and political threats. Propaganda outlets masquerade as news. Entire books are banned for teaching uncomfortable history. The chilling effect is real. Reporters are sued for defamation by billionaires. School libraries are purged. And when good journalism threatens power, it’s dismissed as “fake news” by those it exposes.

This isn’t just censorship — it’s a war on the idea of truth itself. As Shirer knew, a society that punishes facts opens the door for fascism to walk in dressed as patriotism. Democracy cannot function if citizens don’t know what’s real. That’s why fascists always come for the press first.

In both 1930s Berlin and 2020s America, the warning signs are clear: when truth becomes unaffordable, lies become law. And when the public is too exhausted or afraid to demand better, tyranny wins by default.

We must defend journalism like our future depends on it — because it does.

APA Citation:
Shirer, W. L. (1941). Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941. Alfred A. Knopf.