Existing comment:
The Press Empowered:
"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."
-- Thomas Jefferson, third US president, 1787
When the United States ratified the Bill of Rights in 1791, it became the first country in the history of the world to acknowledge the right to press freedom in its constitution. The First Amendment came about because citizens, distrustful of governmental power, demanded that basic freedoms -- among them a free press -- be guaranteed. They understood from experience that a free press could be used effectively to challenge the government should it grow too powerful or abusive. That often-adversarial relationship between the press and government continues to this day. |