Freedom of the Press

Many of us understand it, but a few journalists erroneously believe freedom of the press is the journalistic right to print whatever you want – a shield against retribution for slandering, printing incorrect information or stretching facts.

My favorite journalism teacher, Millie Thompson (bless you, Miss T), taught the First Amendment in a way that scared it into us. With hands on hips she leaned forward like a coach and gave the class a serious glare, “Freedom of the press, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Do you know what they all have in common? Anybody? Anybody?”

Freedom of the press is a myth if you believe it is a shield.

Here it is in the Constitution:

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 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.

 

Congress shall make no law abridging (to cut short, hinder or curtail) the press. In other words, Amendment One means the reporting of, access to, the printing of, distribution and all the things that make up reporting news will not be hindered by law.

Amendment One is one of the reasons every AP Stylebook has a section on how to execute a Freedom of Information Act request, so if a company, government entity, police department or institution withholds information from you, you have the legal means of forcing the release of that information.

You have the Constitutional right to report the news. However, you or your company may be held responsible in a civil court if you slander or stretch facts, and no amendment is going to protect you then.

That includes printing an advertisement with false information that slanders a company or an individual. Yes, in a paid advertisement. It also includes quoting a source giving false information without you also reporting the opposing side. I attended an informative seminar by the Texas Press Association featuring an attorney who specialized in press law and he put to rest many misconceptions about what some reporters, including myself at the time, thought they could do.

I worked with a young reporter at a daily that believed she and the paper were shielded from the consequences of what she wrote because of freedom of the press, even when she stretched the truth for the sake of a good story. When I prevented her from doing such things she would say “Freedom of the press!” like it was “Shazam!” and would make me allow her to slander. She claimed she was a journalism major, but how do you go through journalism school and not know the First Amendment to the Constitution? She needed someone like Miss T to scare it into her.

I covered another aspect of Amendment One in an earlier post HERE.