Should the American press be restricted by the government?If so, who decides what the restrictions would be? What would the penalty be for violating it?Would these restrictions change American life?
If the press is not effective at pointing out abuses, they are failing at their primary mission (as a good man put it: To comfort the afficted and affict the comfortable). Thomas Jefferson was a realist.That's why he also maintained that if there was one thing in the Constitution that could never be sacrificed, it was freedom of the press, so that there would always be an effective whistle-blower that could not be silenced. Is it working?
i think of the FCC is an occasion of ways undesirable issues could be if press advance into limited by the government. Then those with the main money, who complained the main would be on top of problems with what we can and would't say.
There is always the restriction of classified material, I'm not sure how many people have the right to classify things or what the requirements are for being classified but they have the right, just like people do, to keep somethings private in that matter. Should they be able to? Yes, you don't want everybody knowing everything that is going on, it's not a good idea.
No it shouldn't be restricted, that would be a violation of the first amendment. Also it restricts itself enough - see 2003 when the entire media bought the WMD argument hook, line and sinker. That the media has relatively less involvement from the government is one of the greatest things about America, I'm not sure why you'd want to change that.
When you restrict the press in any way, you are saying that ideas are bad. You are restricting the thought process of an entire culture. For instance, the press comes across a story of how military funds were wasted or misallocated. If the government is allowed to 'bury' this story, then the American people go on thinking that thier tax dollars are being used wisely. Now, you can say that this story should be restricted because it will 'embolden' our enemies, or because the public shouldn't have a say in what the military does, but it's simply not true. The only reason to control the press is to control thought. I don't believe EVERYTHING I read, but I think we should live in a country that I can read anything I want.
