Freedom of the Press

By: Jackie Link Lindsey PryceJulie Huynh

Diana Jasser Abbey Lovat

Kirstie Racinski

"The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first

object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we

should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a

government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.“

- Thomas Jefferson

What is Freedom of the Press?

• It is the liberty to print or disseminate information, by printing, broadcasting, or through electronic media, without prior restraints such as licensing requirements or content review and without subsequent punishment for what is said as well.

• The press is a very broad term that includes newspapers, television, radio, books, lectures, movies, art, dance, telephone, cassettes, CDs, video discs, magazines, electronic bulletin boards, computer networks, billboards, and video tapes.

• Peter McWilliams, author of mcwilliams.com website, states:o “We rely on it, depend on its accuracy, and, if it turns out to be

inaccurate, we expect another news organization to expose the expos. Freedom of the press is a fundamental right, up there with freedom of speech and freedom of and from religion. A free press is not a luxury; it's a necessity.”

• Press is now called “Media”• limited by the government and churches

What is Freedom of the Press?

Who Does Freedom of the Press Affect??

oEVERYONE EVERYDAY

oJOURNALISTS

How Freedom of the Press affects people worldwide.

Pros of the Freedom of the Press

o The news and media can alert the public about government actions without them knowing.

o The people have a right to know what is going on in the world and the media's job is to inform them

o No democratic process can occur without access to proper information.

o The most important things the press can report on is information going on with the president, such as corruption, incompetence, or general social problems.

Cons of the Freedom of the Press o Yellow journalism o Freedom and privacy concerning public

figures. o False information can be published

concerning public figures and public matters.

Power of the Press o The many different types of

Press o “Watchdogs”o What the press can and

cannot do: o Examples of when then power

of the press was questioned: oThe Hazelwood Case

o censorship or mandatory licensing by the government in advance of publication

o punishment for printed material, especially that considered by the government to be seditious libel

Historically, restriction of the press has occurred in these two ways:

Freedom of the Press in England

o John Milton, in his Areopagitica (1644), attacked the licensing law in England and told Parliament to suppress offensive publications after their appearance if necessary.

o His objections eventually became a cornerstone of the Freedom of the Press

o but it was not until 1695 that the licensing and censorship laws were abolished.

Freedom of the Press in Americao The Trial of John Peter Zenger

against libel charges in 1735 was the foundation of the Freedom of Press in the U.S.

o He published a newspaper that opposed the tedious policies of governor William Cosby.

o In successfully defending Zenger, his lawyer, Andrew Hamilton established the precedent that a statement, even if insulting, is not libelous if it is proved, affirming freedom of the press in America.

Continuedo After the American Revolution, many states

presented freedom of the presso the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution said

that Congress will not make any laws diminishing the freedom of the press, etc.

o In reaction to the Sedition Act (1798), a more tolerant version of the First Amendment became dominant, which saw it as rejecting seditious libel as a crime.

o The First Amendment was later applied to all the states by judicial interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.

The Development of the Freedom of the Press

o Samuel Adams, a radical journalist, roused the people by using the colonial press to resist the Stamp Act which eventually was repealed.

The Development of the Freedom of the Press (cont…)

o The American Revolution produced many historic newspapermen.

o Even though the Constitution contained a clause for freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights, the government still set many controls on the press and quieted the opinions of most early journalists.

o The Supreme Court’s position on First Amendment freedoms was to suspend free speech and press if the expressions constituted a “reasonable tendency” to endanger society.

o This was the beginning of press freedom in America, the evolution of the “Fourth Estate”

THE PENTAGON PAPERS CASE

The man who exposed Nixon, Daniel Ellsberg.

o This dramatic true-life account follows Daniel Ellsberg, the Harvard graduate and ex-Marine who disclosed information from the Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing secrets about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam that contributed to Richard Nixon's resignation from the presidency.

Hilary Clinton

HAZELWOOD VS. KULMEIR

Senior editor of the Hazelwood school

newspaper at the time of controversy.

These Supreme Court justices voted with the majority saying no First Amendment

rights had been violated.(From left to right, they are Rehnquist, White, Stevens, O’Connor, and Scalia.)

These Supreme Court justices believed First Amendment rights of the students had

been violated. (From Left to right they are Brennan, Marshall, and Blackmun.)

Ethics in Journalism

o Defamation-to harm someone’s reputation

o Two main types: libel (written) and slander (verbal)

o Libel is what journalists are sued for.

Libel is. . .o The publication of a false

statement of fact that seriously harms someone’s reputation.

o In order to successfully sue for libel, you must first prove the journalist acted with malice. Then, you must prove 5 other thing.

Recent Cases Concerning Freedom of the Press

o A recent case happened on August 3, 2008 when a National Press Club protests jailing a New York Times Reporter, Barry Bearak who was covering the presidential election in Zimbabwe.

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no wisdom and no freedom of the people without freedom of opinion and it is the right of every man until it does not affect the freedom of others.”