Why do we need a free and independent press? In our current, deeply cynical age, when distrust of the media has reached extraordinarily levels and many Americans are tuning out the news altogether, it is easy to lose sight of why U.S. democracy has long depended on dogged reporters—free from government censorship—to hold leaders accountable. At a moment when every major outlet faces intense pressure from Donald Trump’s administration, the need to defend the fourth estate has rarely felt more urgent.

A new documentary from the PBS American Experience series steps into this void, offering a provocative history that brings to life the dangers that arise when government secrecy and control overwhelm press freedom.

Why do we need a free and independent press? In our current, deeply cynical age, when distrust of the media has reached extraordinarily levels and many Americans are tuning out the news altogether, it is easy to lose sight of why U.S. democracy has long depended on dogged reporters—free from government censorship—to hold leaders accountable. At a moment when every major outlet faces intense pressure from Donald Trump’s administration, the need to defend the fourth estate has rarely felt more urgent.

A new documentary from the PBS American Experience series steps into this void, offering a provocative history that brings to life the dangers that arise when government secrecy and control overwhelm press freedom.

Bombshell examines how U.S. newspapers covered the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The documentary traces the career of New York Times science writer William L. Laurence, who in the spring of 1945 was selected by Maj. Gen. Leslie Groves to serve as the press writer and official historian of the Manhattan Project. Groves brought Laurence to the top-secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, granting him extensive access to the project’s operations. Working under military supervision, Laurence squandered both his opportunity and his credibility, becoming a mouthpiece for government propaganda rather than a voice committed to telling the truth.

Laurence and Groves after a media tour at the Trinity test site in 1945.U.S. Army Corp of Engineers

Laurence was the only reporter to witness the Trinity test in July 1945, yet his accounts, the basis of official press releases, ignored the visible effects of the technology he observed. When concerned locals tried to find out what happened (it was so bright that a blind woman 100 miles away reportedly asked, “What’s that?” at the time of detonation), Laurence provided as little information as possible. The local media published stories repeating his misleading account. “Laurence does exactly what Groves wants, and he’s perfectly happy to work within those constraints,” Princeton historian Michael Gordin explains in the film. Loyalty meant mistruth.

Reporters were not the only........

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