Freedom of the Press

In addition to the freedoms of religion and speech, the First Amendment also explicitly guarantees the freedom of the press. The Framers of the Constitution considered the freedom of the press one of the fundamental rights of the people in a republic. In a letter written in 1787, Thomas Jefferson declared:

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 a moment to prefer the latter.

Given the widespread use of “papers” and pamphlets in the battle for ratification of the Constitution, it is not surprising that the Framers placed such a high value on the ability of people to write, print, and distribute statements of their beliefs.

The Supreme Court has also consistently upheld the freedom of the press to seek, acquire, and publish information. Several cases have arisen challenging the freedom of the press to report what it chooses or challenging laws limiting that freedom. Many of these cases overlap significantly with other First Amendment cases, such as the New York Times defamation case cited above. Consequently, the same privileges that are protected at the individual level are also enjoyed by the press. One major exception is the Court’s stance that the First Amendment does not give reporters the right to withhold information they gathered confidentially. If called to testify, the reporter may have to divulge the sources of information they have reported (see Branzburg v. Hayes).

Americans often take for granted many of the liberties they enjoy. For example, we assume that the press will not be punished for writing articles or reporting stories critical of the government. The press in other nations does not enjoy such wide latitude. In the summer of 1999, the government of Tanzania imposed a seven-day ban on a newspaper that ran a story about a proposed salary increase for government officials. The government claimed the article in question was “fanning discontent and hatred among the people towards the government” (Associated Press, “Newspaper Banned,” 24 July 1999).