Freedom of the Press
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 29-34 |
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The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom . . . of the press." Under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states also must recognize freedom of the press.
When the United States adopted the First Amendment in 1791, the press meant printed books, newspapers, and pamphlets, also called handbills. With advances in technology, the press came to include the broadcast media of radio and television. In the 1990s the Internet expanded the press to include computer-based publications.
The freedom of the press protects the right to publish information and to express ideas in these various media. It is an important right in a free society. To make sure government is running properly, citizens need to be informed. People do not have the time or ability to watch everything the government does. The press serves this function by investigating and reporting on the government's activity. If the citizens do not like what they see, they can remove politicians from office and elect new ones to do a better job.
In 1787 future president Thomas Jefferson made the following remark about the importance of the freedom of the press: "Were it left to
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me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter."
The United States adopted freedom of the press in reaction to the press's history in England and the American colonies. Even before the German Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the fifteenth century, government and church leaders in England regularly banned handwritten books that threatened their power. After the invention of the printing press, the English government required printers to get a license from a government or church official before publishing anything. By the mid-sixteenth century, anyone found with a book that criticized the British government could be executed.
In 1585 Queen Elizabeth I of England created a new set of laws to control the press in her country. Printing could occur only at approved presses in Oxford, Cambridge, and London. All material to be printed had to be approved beforehand by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London. Violators faced imprisonment or destruction of their printing equipment. Although these laws expired in 1695, the British government continued to enforce laws against sedition. These laws prevented anyone from printing something that criticized the government, even if it was true.
Printing was introduced in the American colonies in 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By 1765 more than thirty newspapers were printed in the colonies. The press, however, faced controls similar to those in England. Many colonies had censorship laws controlling what could be published. They also...
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