![]() United States, the primary concern centered on whether the Times could publish the Pentagon Papers. Posting information after events have happened is typically legal but there are some instances where that may prove problematic for publishers and editors. Military plans and movements are an example – enemy combatants could gain an advantage by reading about plans in a news source, so the government does have the right to prevent newspapers from printing that kind of information. ![]() That being said, some issues pose such important security threats that the government is allowed to block the press from publishing about them. Left unchecked by the press, the government could potentially commit all sorts of things its citizens would disapprove of. “The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications and not in freedom from censure from criminal matter when published.”Ĭitizens need a free press for many reasons, including the ability to to criticize the government or expose any of its potential wrongdoings. They based their decision on historical events and statements including the following statement from British legal authority, William Blackstone: The case made it to the Supreme Court, and they agreed that no government was allowed to censor the press because a free press is essential for the political system to work. Instead of shutting down production, the newspaper counter-sued, claiming that Minneapolis and Minnesota were violating their freedom of the press. The judge upheld the city officials’ injunction stopping the publication of The Saturday Press and said that if the publishers continued, they would be found in contempt of court. City officials obtained an order to shut down the publication of the newspaper entirely and gave the editors the opportunity to go before a local judge to prove the story was true. ![]() In this case, The Saturday Press was published a story stating that the city of Minneapolis, including the mayor and the chief of police, was under the secret control of a group of Jewish gangsters. ![]() Censorship of the press before a story is published in print, broadcast on television, radio or the internet is called “prior restraint,” and the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional in a case called Near v. Under these circumstances, censorship often means preventing the press from publishing information in the first place, though this can also mean punishing news organizations after they have published a story. The First Amendment’s primary goal for the press is to prevent the government from censoring it. The First Amendment is clear that Congress cannot make any laws that limit the freedom of the press. Benjamin Franklin portrait by Joseph Duplessis Part One: Freedom of the Press ![]()
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