Irish Examiner view: Empowering journalism to speak truth to power

'Irish Examiner' and 'The Echo' office in Blackpool, Cork. Democracy, and the journalistic support for it, is indeed something that should be continually nurtured, refreshed, and supported. By buying our paper or subscribing to irishexaminer.com, you are actually playing a part in this. Picture: Dan Linehan

Democracy is, in some ways, a fragile thing. It is hard won in many countries, and yet readily trod underfoot or taken for granted.

And perhaps there’s good cause for the latter. After all, you should be able to take it for granted that your country will allow free elections and public debate. You should be able to take it for granted that the rule of law will prevail. And you should be able to take it for granted that you can speak truth to power without dire repercussions.