Why is freedom of the press under the First Amendment fundamental to democracy?
Posted on September 29th, 2009 by admin
The FCC cannot censor broadcasts and the government may not exercise prior restraint over print media. Why is freedom of the press under the First Amendment fundamental to democracy?
Because whether you agree with the particular bias of a "News" agency their being allowed to air the "dirty underwear" of this country is what all the other "Rights" stand on. Without the freedom of the press this nation will never survive because one party could take over and silence the other(As the Republicans did until the "Press" started bringing out the facts that brought them down). The reason the Republicans are so rancorous in their attacks on the Democrats and Obama is the Fear that the Democrats will realize the power the Republicans left ready to be abused in the Patriot Act, the Military Powers Act and the revised FISA.
The NSA already censors the news and the Internet and has since 2002 by presidential decree which the revised FISA legalized. Why do you think the top recruiter of "Hackers" in the USA is and has been since 2001 the NSA?
September 29th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
what good would your vote do if you based it on controlled information?
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September 29th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Because most people think it gives them a free pass to say or do anything at another persons expense. Its one thing to report news. Its another to completely invade another persons space.
"The right to swing your arms wildly stops when you hit another mans face"
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September 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
It was believed that the best ideas would prosper if the marketplace of ideas was unrestrained. However, lack of education, dogmatism, fear, and hate have shown this belief to be overly optimistic.
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September 29th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Freedom of the Press is one example of how our Democracy is abused, and how people do not know dick about the constitution.
The press used to be political watchdogs. Now they have the freedom to pry into the lives of anyone they want because people seem to think… I don’t know what they’re thinking. Freedom for the press, but no one else. Journalism is just about dead.
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September 30th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Democracy is essentially self-government. The "self" here being the population being governed. So we all need to be able to communicate and opnly debate the issues of the day amongst ourselves, so we can decide who we will elect – to execute our collective wishes. (We can elect who will govern us.)
If those who govern us can squelch public debate, or Control the Public debate – probably first silencing any criticism of the actions of the government – of their own actions ; that impedes our ability to decide if they deserve to be re-elected, or if we’d like to vote them out of office. The (assumed to be evil) government would slant the news to make themselves look popular, or create favorable news when the truth would be unfavorable – just to stay in power.
A free press is the watchdog -telling the voters what government is doing. If the voters don’t like it – we can change the government.
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September 30th, 2009 at 1:03 am
The Press is supposed to be an independent "Watch Dog" for the public over Government not to walk in lock step with the government.
They are to just give us Information, Facts, Analysts and Commentary on both sides of an issue.
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Bear
September 30th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Government-controlled press would be easy to use as propaganda.
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September 30th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Because whether you agree with the particular bias of a "News" agency their being allowed to air the "dirty underwear" of this country is what all the other "Rights" stand on. Without the freedom of the press this nation will never survive because one party could take over and silence the other(As the Republicans did until the "Press" started bringing out the facts that brought them down). The reason the Republicans are so rancorous in their attacks on the Democrats and Obama is the Fear that the Democrats will realize the power the Republicans left ready to be abused in the Patriot Act, the Military Powers Act and the revised FISA.
The NSA already censors the news and the Internet and has since 2002 by presidential decree which the revised FISA legalized. Why do you think the top recruiter of "Hackers" in the USA is and has been since 2001 the NSA?
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September 30th, 2009 at 2:26 am
So we can bitch about the government. In doing so the government is therefore accountable to the people, as they can decide to do something about it, by voting people in or out, or taking up arms and so on.
Bitching is the way forwards!
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