Historical Development And Constitutional Analysis Of Freedom Of The Press In America

Freedom of the press not only forms a substructure of modern democratic politics but balances the powers in the system of constitutional government. The studies of press freedom are always a hot spot in the academic circles. Comparatively speaking, the system of press freedom in the United States is relatively complete in the world. As a result of the United States'first Constitutional Amendment, it wins itself aconstitutional safeguard. In this thesis, the author offers a definition of press freedom from a historical point of view and then probes into freedom of the press from the perspective of constitutional government for the purpose of finding out how, the press, an institutionalized force out of the system of constitutional government balances the three branches in case any one of them is concentrated so rapidly to be a destructive force.To make a special exploration into press freedom in the United States in this paper, the author traces back to the history of the thoughts relating to press freedom, investigates constitutional government in reality, and indicates that its historical origin preconditions freedoms of press and of information, the right to know, and the given First Constitutional Amendment.This paper includes five chapters.Chapter One is an introduction which is mainly about that the foundation of press freedom consists of law and news communication, both of which effectively guard its constitutional status. On this basis, the author puts forward the theme in this book that press freedom is a substructure of liberty in the United States, a supervisor on behalf of its people, and a lubrication oil of the government's powers.Chapter Two deals with a review of press freedom, in which the author explores the historical origin of the thoughts on press freedom, including freedom of speech and writings during the periods of ancient Greece and Rome, the tradition of free publication in England, the influence of human rights in France, and Jefferson's thoughts on the superiority of press freedom. On the other hand, the author provides an explanation of the far-reaching influence of British tradition of free publication on her colony and an analysis of the foundation of American thoughts on press freedom by tracing the historical development of press freedom.Chapter Three concerns press freedom and Congress legislation. The original intention to write press freedom into the Constitution is to prevent Congress from monopolizing powers. However, Congress represses freedom of the press through the law of incitement and rebellion and opposing the legalization of democracy. Hence a disharmony or even conflict appears before freedom and democracy.Chapter Four has relation to freedom of the press and the administration of the president. There is frequently a confrontation between the press circles and the president. As the American nation has united and her country is increasingly powerful and prosperous , her president gradually becomes a symbol of her nation and an embodiment of power;as a result, the President's power expands in such a rapid way that it would subvert the base of the United States'constitutional government. In such case, the press under the wing of the Constitution acts as a sharp sword which conditions the president's administration.Chapter Five discusses the conflict: judicial autocracy v freedom of the press, a conflict which belongs to the constitutional system, namely, the First Constitutional Amendment v the Fifth and the Sixth Conventional Amendments. It is also a conflict between fair trial and free press. The problem, though, is how the court takes advantage of judicial autocracy to safeguard press freedom and thus becomes its patron saint.Freedom of the press is a synthesis composed of free news interviewing, communication, report or comment, and press or issue. Compared with passive freedom of speech, freedom of the press is a positive one, inheriting the nature of freedom which in turn gradually becomes absolute. Systematically, freedom of the press is designed to stand between a government's power and the masses and acts as an agent for the masses; Functionally, freedom of the press in itself has the ability to reduce pressure by disclosing a government's scandals and expressing the masses'grievances through mass media. Purposefully,the Constitution makers take freedom of the press as a way to spur a good constitutional government. And in terms of economics, the aim of constitutional government is not for efficiency but for balanced powers and a steady system, for the principle of the separation and balance of powers leads to their confrontation and even conflict. In the running of constitutional government, when any one of the three powers is concentrated so rapidly that it would emerge as a destructive force, the press, as the only one supervisor for the masses and lubrication oil of government powers, will be the most powerful factor to ensure the separation of powers and the restoration of the conventional-government system to its former orbit.In short,press freedom is a substructure of liberty in the United States, the only one supervisor on behalf of its people and a lubrication oil of the government's powers, and a substructure of liberty in the United States and a device to maintain the equilibrium in her democratic constitutional government.