On Sept. 17, we celebrated Constitution Day, marking the 236th anniversary of the signing of our remarkable founding document in Philadelphia. As the Constitution makes clear, free speech and free press are of rudimentary concern to a healthy democracy. But we have none of those things within the Fairfax County public school system.

Earlier this month, the Fairfax County Public Schools media team contacted local media outlets to share their “expectations” and express condemnation for stories that were not favorable to the district. The government entity sent a letter to the editorial team of the local newspaper, the Fairfax County Times, requesting a meeting. Fairfax County Public Schools media team’s stated intent of the proposed meeting was “to better understand your editorial process and also discuss our basic expectations so that moving forward, we can work together more effectively.”

The newspaper’s editorial team reportedly was puzzled by the letter and denied the meeting request. Why would a government-funded school district get a say in the free press’s editorial process? They shouldn’t — and to suggest otherwise is a serious overstep.

The school district’s letter to the Fairfax County Times has prompted many concerned Fairfax County residents to question whether other local media outlets have received similar meeting requests and “expectations.”

It turns out Fairfax County Public Schools also emailed Fox 5, another local outlet, to express its disapproval regarding a story published on Aug. 30. The local evening news channel reported that Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology fell in the national rankings from first to fifth place, following its deviation from merit-based admissions. While reporting the story, Fox 5 notably reached out to Fairfax County Public Schools multiple times to get them to discuss the issue on camera, but they declined the opportunity.

As the Nov. 7, 2023, local election approaches, and with all of Fairfax County School Board seats up for reelection, residents should wonder whether school officials are exerting pressure on local media to push a specific narrative.

If so, it appears to be working. On Sept. 5, for example, NBC4 reported a story in which a Fairfax County School Board candidate, Harry Jackson, sent out mailers alerting residents to the pornographic books in local middle school libraries. The story focused mostly on whether or not it was appropriate for the candidate to send the mailer, ignoring the more pressing question: If it’s inappropriate for the candidate to mail explicit pictures of books found in our middle school libraries, why are those books still available to 11-year-olds in Fairfax County public schools?

It’s worth noting that NBC4 reached out to Jackson’s opponent, Melanie Meren, the incumbent, who has voted in favor of these books being in our middle school libraries — a fact on which NBC4 did not report.

Meren offered NBC4 a politician’s comment , “I think elections are a time to have respectful and thoughtful conversations. I welcome that in our community. That’s where my attention is focused….”

Interestingly, on Aug. 21, Jackson publicly challenged Meren to debate him, but she has ignored his invitation.

NBC4 excluded any criticism of Meren, but took no issue with including negative opinions on Jackson’s candidacy. Perhaps the NBC4 station management has already met with the Fairfax County Public Schools media team to receive their marching orders.

It is little wonder that the majority of registered voters believe that “the mainstream media” is a “threat to democracy.” A New York Times/Sienna poll last year found that 71% of respondents agree with the statement, “American democracy is under threat.” Of those respondents, 84% believe that “mainstream media” is at least partly to blame.

The evident partnership between government and the media is certainly a part of these concerns because it’s not just happening in Fairfax County. Just this month, the White House issued a memo to newsroom editors across our nation demanding that they criticize House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. The 14-page memo essentially provided a collusion manual for our so-called free press to “ramp up [their] scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.”

In the spirit of truly celebrating Constitution Day and rebuilding a healthy democracy, local and national media alike need to work toward objective reporting — which means holding those in power to account, not colluding with them.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and a member of the Independent Women’s Network.