Freeing the Presses: The First Amendment in Action

by Timothy E. Cook (Editor), Regina G. Lawrence (Editor)

Overview

Most Americans consider a free press essential to democratic society -- either as an independent watchdog against governmental abuse of power or as a wide-open marketplace of ideas. But few understand that far-reaching public policies have shaped the news citizens receive. In an age when mass communication ranges from independent cable channels to the Internet, it is essential to assess these policies and their effects if we want the media to continue fulfilling their role. Freeing the Presses offers a pathbreaking inquiry into the theory and practice of freedom of the press at a critical time in the growing overlap between modern media and political discussion. Six political communication scholars draw upon history, sociology, political science, legal philosophy, and journalism to investigate whether the freedoms and privileges given to the news media and to reporters actually produce the results we expect. Their discussion covers past, present, and future media performance and engages a wide range of provocative questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807148464
Publisher:	Louisiana State University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2006
Series:	Media and Public Affairs
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Timothy E. Cook is the author of Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution, winner of the Doris A. Graber Best Book Award of the American Political Science Association; and Making Laws and Making News: Media Strategies in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has been a research fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and he won the Doris Graber Prize of the American Political Science Association as a coauthor of the book Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign. He is the Kevin P. Reilly, Sr., Chair of Political Communication in the Louisiana State University Manship School of Mass Communication.

Timothy E. Cook is the author of Governing with the News: The News Media as a Political Institution, winner of the Doris Graber Best Book Award of the American Political Science Association; and Making Laws and Making News: Media Strategies in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has been a research fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and he won the Doris Graber Best Book Award as a coauthor of Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates, and the Media in a Presidential Campaign. He is the Kevin P. Reilly, Sr., Chair of Political Communication in the Louisiana State University Manship School of Mass Communication

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
	Freeing the Presses: An Introductory Essay	1
Part 1	From the Past
	Introduction	29
	The Press the Founders Knew	33
	On the Relationship between Press Law and Press Content	51
Part 2	At Present
	Introduction	71
	Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press	73
	Daily News and First Amendment Ideals	87
Part 3	Toward the Future
	Introduction	109
	The Twilight of Mass Media News: Markets, Citizenship, Technology, and the Future of Journalism	111
	"New Media" and Contemporary Interpretations of Freedom of the Press	139
	Afterword	163
	Contributors	175
	Index	177

Editorial Reviews

Based upon presentations at a media and public affairs symposium at Louisiana State University in 2003, these papers and commentaries by nine academics and a lawyer address the past, present, and future of freedom of the press. Editor Cook (political communication, Louisiana State Univ.) asserts that much current discussion regarding freedom of the press is theoretical instead of focusing on real-world practices. He would like to see us develop a "media system that fulfills the demands of a democratic polity." The six papers present historical evidence and new analysis concerning the press as conceived by the founders of the Constitution, the courts and the press, the impact of libel law, the autonomy of journalists, ways to maintain the relevance of the mass media, protections for the new personal digital media (such as Internet blogs), and a new model for an open press. The papers on the future of the news media, in particular, will stimulate new thinking. Many books have been written on the First Amendment and the press, but this one is especially important because it tests theories of freedom of the press. Highly recommended for academic, public, and specialized law and communications libraries.-Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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