Who Owns "Freedom of the Press?"

Photo of Newspapers - This is a photograph of newspaper, representing the media in this question regarding freedom of the press.
United States
October 26, 2008 1:14am CST
We all know that Freedom of the Press is granted to those of us in the United States by the First Amendment (the first of the Bill of Rights). The question I pose to you, Internet debaters, is who owns freedom of the press? Although every citizen is entitled to this freedom, only the media conglomerates are able to make swings in the media (the press). So is freedom of the press a right enjoyed only by the wealthy? Or does the allegedly "free press" benefit us all?
3 responses
@MrNiceGuy (4141)
• United States
10 Jan 09
You are free to print and distribute a newspaper or website of your own all you want. That is what it means. Who should be providing you with the means to run a newspaper?
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
30 Oct 08
You are wrong. The 1st Amendment grants no rights to any individual or organization at all. In fact, no part of the US Constitution does. The 1st Amendment tells the US Federal government that it can't infringe on the rights of the people to publish news and information. Like all rights, there are also responsibilities. Freedom of the press doesn't protect libel, which means that no lie told against anyone in any medium is protected. We have the right to print or broadcast what we want, but we also have the responsibility to make sure what we print or broadcast is accurate. Media conglomerates became the epicenter of the freedom of the press because of technology. But now, with the internet and other sources, they have lost much of their influence. They complain about that fact, but they also seem to forget that it was technology that gave them their influence in the first place. No, freedom of the press isn't about wealth, it's about access to people. I have a friend worked for a local newpaper out West. He got tired of how the powers that be in that paper wanted him to do his job, so he and a couple of others quit and started their own paper. At first it was all online, but they found there was a market for their paper to be circulated on paper. Within a few years they became #1 in the area (not just their city). My friend never made more than $50,000 a year, but he not only got a paper started in the age of the internet, but he and his friends made it succeed beyond their expectations.
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
26 Oct 08
I think the press and the news media have become more entertainment and sometimes it is based on ratings, or whatever they sell newspapers or not, so most have some lawyers and are careful sometimes not fall in libel. I am not sure if only the wealthy can enjoy it, I think people with power can enjoy and people with media appeal.