The American Press System Part 1: Introduction

The Beginning… 1734 John Peter Zenger’s newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal, published criticism of the British colonial governor Zenger was thrown into jail and brought to trial in 1735 A jury found Zenger not guilty Laid the foundation for the First Amendment of the Constitution

First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof; 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.”

Freedom of Press How free is a “free press”? Limited in two ways: Standards and ethics for journalism Laws and other legal restrictions

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Newspapers strive to present news fairly and responsibly Sometimes this means a newspaper will practice self-censorship by restricting what it will publish

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Censorship, if imposed by an outside party, is illegal under the Constitution In 1971 The New York Times printed historical facts about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Government tried to suppress, or censor, this information but the Supreme Court sided with the press

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Half-Truths Occur more often than censorship Based on incomplete information provided to a journalist A story written without supplemental information would be one filled with half- truths

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Some government actions, whether local or national, are restricted and the press does not have access In most of these cases, the government must show there is a good reason to keep the press out

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Shield Laws In some states, shield laws protect journalists from the revealing the sources they quote anonymously in stories Not all states have shield laws The federal government does not recognize shield laws In many cases, journalists have refused to reveal their sources and have gone to jail

Reporting News Responsibly and Ethically Pressure from advertisers can also threaten press freedom May threaten to not advertise if paper does not change its ways Never give in to pressure from advertisers!