Freedom Of Press: Supreme Court Cases

     The first and inargueably the most significant of the amendments to our Constitution is the First Amendment. The amendment that established our freedoms as citizens of our new confederation. The First Amendment insured, among other things, freedom of speech and of the press. Since the establishment of these rights, they have often been in question. People have debated over, "What is too much freedom?", and "When is this

There are also times when information is released to the public, which could be potentially harmful to our national security. Ultimately Freedom of the Press is an essential right. For the press, they feel the need to inform people of situations that arise, such as health care issues (probably to raise their revenue but also because if they were part of the general public, they would want to be informed). The government may not be ready to tell it's people that there is a potentially life threatening disease in populated areas, in fear that it might cause a panic. The press on the other hand, will supply its readers with the information.

Is the freedom of speech given to everyone? Or is preferential treatment given to those of the majority? It can be said that when people speak of censorship, they argue that such offensive speech is harmful to the oppressed, or the minority. But by definition, the oppressed minority have little to no political power. The powerful majority who have the power to make restrictions on speech will do so in a way that oppresses the minority’s freedom of speech. The purpose of free speech is to protect the minority, often unpopular, viewpoint from being overpowered by the majority, or by the government. In New York Times v. Sullivan 1964, the idea of libel was creating. Libel states that if you are a public figure, you can only collect damages from someone if you have a very convincing and indisputable argument that (a.) the intention was to hurt, and (b.) statements were made with reckless regard for the truth. In contrast, if you are a private person, you must only prove that the published statements were false and easily verifiable to collect damages. This could be seen as favoring the majority (private persons being protected) over the minority (public figures not being protected). (New York Times v. Sullivan

Created September 25,1978 and ratified December 15, 179, the Bill of Rights was imputed into society as a tool to establish law,order, and morality. James Madison, a political theorist, was known as the father of the Bill of Rights. One of the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights is the right to freedom of speech, expression and media. In the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The First Amendment guarantees the citizens of America that they have the right to freely express themselves about anything, including political arguments and views. This amendment also guarantees the press/media the right to overtly publish their ideas on any topic in the newspaper. The purpose of this amendment is to assure America’s people that they shouldn’t worry about being censored or punished for the expression of their feelings because they are human just as everyone else.

The freedom of press sounds like one of the things we shouldn’t be focused on, especially with everything else that is going on in our world. Why exactly is this an important freedom? I have always found it to be a little bit strange that we are protecting the right to say hateful things about people you barely know. It doesn’t sound like it should be as important as things like torture or murder. Sometimes words can hurt, but they can also be used to do great things.

The government can not censor the press, even if what is published is against the government. The free press helps to protect citizens’ rights and hold the government in check. Also in accordance to the First Amendment, people have the right to join any organization of their choosing and come together as a group, peaceably. The last right that the public has is the right to present the government with petitions or letters that tell of their unhappiness and complaints against the government. This is a right that our founding fathers did not have back in England. When they declared independence from the King, they laid out all of their grievances for the world to see. In contrast, our citizens today do no have to wait for a historical event to vent their frustrations.

The 1st Amendment forbids Congress from enacting laws that would regulate speech or press before publication or punish after publication. At various times many states passed laws in contradiction to the freedoms guaranteed in the 1st Amendment. However broadcast has always been considered a special exemption to free speech laws for two reasons. 1) the most important reasons is the scarcity of spectrum and the 2) is the persuasiveness of the medium. Because radio and TV come into the house, and may be heard or seen by unsupervised children, the government feels a special responsibility to protect the American people. As Herbert Hoover said to, "doublegaurd them."

The First Amendment one that is watered down, serves as example of the freedom we as Americans have. It is best known as the amendment that lets us say what we want when we want. There is more to it that gets overlooked. It blocks government from establishing a theocracy, grants the people the right to peacefully assemble and protest the government for a redress of grievances. Our press is independent and is given freedom to publish at will. Our freedoms embolden us to speak out and organize for progress and against society's wrongs. Sometimes groups will organize to speak out but will sink to extreme measures as a means of expression. The first amendment has seen challenges in recent months. “Donald Trump referred to the press, and I'm quoting his exact words, as "dishonest, disgusting, and scum."Just ten days ago, you might have heard in a press conference, President Donald Trump said that the "press is out of control."(Chemerinsky, 553). To clashes between different ideologies on college campuses with some initiating riots. The first amendment grants many freedoms, however it does not grant protection from consequence.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution: an amendment that guarantees three rights, one of which is the right to freedom of expression. Under this, there resides the freedom of press. It assures that people are free to communicate through the means of media and dissemination without governmental restraints. However, if the government desires to interfere in one’s expression, the government can do so, but only with proper justification. In such cases, a court case is necessary (“First Amendment”). One such case is New York Times Co. v. United States. In favor of the publications made by the Times that had caused concern for the U.S. government, the final verdict was right in heeding the First Amendment, for the

An important provision of the Bill of Rights is the protection of freedom to publish, as provided by the First Amendment. This protection applies to all kinds of publications, even those that print unpopular opinions. In most censorship cases, every attempt is made to suppress the written word after publication, not before. Minnesota passed a law in 1925 that sought to prevent newspapers, magazines, and other publications from printing obscene, malicious, scandalous and defamatory material. This law was called the Minnesota Gag Law . This law allowed private citizens and/or public prosecutors to request a court injunction to shut down any publication that was known as a public nuisance. Publishers of newspapers had to show that they had good motives for anything they were going to print before they printed it.

Along the same lines, the 1st Amendment guarantees U.S. citizens freedom of speech. On June 8, 1789 this amendment was put into the constitution. Madison said at the time, ''the people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.'' Well in 1917, this inviolable right of speech was no longer inviolable. The Supreme Court decided that you only have the freedom of speech while not endangering others or presenting a clear and present danger. That seems fair. This makes the law able to punish people who pull a fire alarm when there’s no fire, or call in a false bomb threat, but since when was handing out a pamphlet that had your beliefs on it illegal. Ask Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer who were charged and prosecuted for making pamphlets talking about

In the past, there has always been conflict between the free press and the government. This conflict was very evident in the Pentagon Papers case, also known as New York Times Co. v. United States. Historically, the Supreme Court has disagreed on the limitations that can be placed on the First Amendment. The Supreme Court faced these issues in the case of The New York Times. The newspaper obtained a copy of a Defense Department report that explained government deception in the Vietnam War. The Pentagon Papers emerged when the American people disagreed on the United States involvement in the war. Under the First Amendment, The New York Times argued

In the book Freedom for the Thought that we Hate, author Anthony Lewis takes a simply phrased law, the First Amendment and shows how complex freedom of speech really is once put into the real world of freedom, as we know it. He shows through his rejections of absolutism, strong support towards freedom restriction, and objective analysis of Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, that the United States press is unlike any other in the world.

The First Amendment states Congress will have no right to prohibit or create laws against free speech, press, or religion. This documents in written word that all forms of speech and press are legal in the United States. Therefore,

In the United States, freedom of the press and the broader freedom of speech are protected by the First