Chapt 1 and 2 MORE TO COME
General Overview
Chapter 1
Important facts I learned from Chapter one:
The Constitution created a law that guarantees free speech that can’t be taken away by any branch of the government. It went into effect Dec. 15, 1791. The repression of the press started during the times of slavery, when people were attempting to silence the abolitionist press. The First Amendment protects expression but not action conduct or behavior unless it is a symbolic method of expression. The way a person dresses, their body language and grooming styles can be protected under the First Amendment. The right of free press is guaranteed to individuals. A corporation acts as an individual and receives the same rights as one person. They do not have special rights because they are a corporation.
The courts have ruled that the following may or may not be covered by the First Amendment. They are on a case to case basis: Commercial advertising, the way journalists acquire their information, defamation, fighting words and actions or conduct alone. These certain things have state or federal laws that regulated them at different levels.
The First Amendment protects the expressions and opinions that are controversial, unconventional, against the majority, unpopular ideas, conflict with the government’s policies, or indecent ideas. Criticism of government officials is protected. All of these pertain to college campuses along with political cartoons, satire, and letters from faculty advisor, articles that do not reflect the ideal of the school, etc. Some forms of advertising are protected such as abortion ads, medical services, but the editor has the right to not print anything under the First Amendment, as well.
Question: There is a rule on the Eckerd campus that doesn’t allow any students to put up signs posters etc on the house bulletin boards or community bulletin boards unless they have permission from the administration. Is this a violation of the First amendment??
Question: at my old PUBLIC high school there were rules against certain kinds of clothes. Students could not wear chains, spikes, and weren’t “clean enough” There was no specific dress code, but they sent kids home for having those “problems” Is this a violation of the First amendment?
Chapter 2
Constitutional guarantees of the Free Press
Things I learned:
The First Amendment lists 6 rights that cannot be infringed upon:
freedom from state religion
freedom of religion
freedom of speech
freedom of the press
freedom of assembly
freedom to petition
The Supreme Court ruled that expressions can lose their protection under the First amendment IF it is “libelous, obscene, or significantly detrimental to national security” (page 14)
The Supreme Court also ruled “state power to abridge expressions was limited and was to be used only when there was a reasonable fear of danger.” (page 14) The clear and present danger doctrine allows the court to hold a journalist in contempt if the article or editorial poses a clear and present danger to the fairness of the trial.
The Supreme Court said that the government cannot stop the free flow of ideas. The freedom to publish is guaranteed but not the freedom to keep others from publishing. Freedom of the press from governmental interference does not approve the freedom by private interests. The question then is should it be applied to officials at private colleges? (YES, YES, YES, they shouldn’t be able to censor, we should be protected by the First amendment)
As mentioned in chapter 1, the freedom of the press does not have to agree with governmental policy or opinions that are shared by the majority. The “press” is that of newspapers, books, magazines, leaflets, and circulars, pamphlets, radio, TV, and every sort of publication. Motion pictures are also protected. Freedom of the press includes that right to receive and read information and opinions. Each adult has the right to read what he chooses, at least at his home.
Freedom of the press covers writing, distribution, printing, publishing and reading.
REALLY COOL QUOTE ON page 24 “the American Press has never been more free, never been more uninhibited, and -most important- never been better protected by law” Floyd Abrams.
I wish private institutions were more educated on this matterMORE TO COME IN A FEW
posted by Krista @ 11:32 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Krista,
You hit the nail on the head with your very first paragraph: We are guaranteed free speech, and our government can't control it. This has been my big beef with how the Triton has been set up from the get-go; we are not a club, we are a forum for public speech, and the government should not control that. I have a problem with even having to ask the student government if it's OK that we sever ties -- we should not have to do that. It's time for a media board, for separate budgets, and to allow the newspaper to run the way any medium in our country should.
Now, that doesn't mean that we aren't accountable. We are. We have a huge task: We are the people who represent our community. We bring them news they both want and need, and sometimes don't want but that they need to know. We have a big responsibility to be fair, accurate, and representative of our community. I feel we sometimes do this -- and sometimes we don't. When we don't, it's because we aren't being careful; stories are being hastily thrown together, not edited properly, and allowed to be run without being fair and balanced. We won't name names here, but you know which stories I'm talking about. That's why I get on our case when stories have just one source or "beats up" on any person without allowing them to give their side of the story. It's not fair, and the reporting is not accurate because it's not balanced.
I'm very much hoping that, by working on a couple stories together this summer, you'll be able to spot those stories that aren't ready to be run -- and that you'll hold them. Run AP Wire. Make the newspaper smaller, but full of good, balanced stories.
You asked me about freedom of expression on private campuses, as well as in public schools. There are different rules for both. Private schools can make some of their own rules because they don't get public, government money. Elementary schools have different rules because the schools are protecting minors. I don't agree with many of the rules our high school imposed either -- and some people take their high schools to court to fight their rules. It's taken case by case in the courts, and the rulings can contradict.
Let's look a bit more at private colleges. What are the "rules" of publishing when your funds don't come from the state? Well, it varies from college to college. I would argue that we are a liberal arts college, where the free exchange of differeing ideas should be emphasized not only in the press, but all over campus. At Eckerd, we're also known for our writing program, and I'm very much in favor of supporting a strong newspaper that allows the students a forum to learn to write well.
I do think, for the most part, Eckerd lets us do this. Let's face it: We've made some doozies of errors, and we haven't really been cut from publishing. I don't like that the government seems to have tried to restrict our funds -- it's just another instance that shows us it's time to put our budget in the hands of a board that better understands the role of the media -- but for the most part, we are left alone. And we are lucky.
Private colleges are not the only ones that face problems with administration (separate from student government). The University of Florida's newspaper separated its budget from the entire college when the administration tried to censor some of its work years ago; The Alligator now runs exclusively on money it brings in from advertising (unless something has changed that I don't know aobut).
Again, the Triton is lucky, as we've escaped from being shut down or "punished" for those things we write. But we need to work harder on our accuracy, so that we don't face those problems in the first place. As I've said many times in the past, we should write about anything that we belive our public wants or needs to know -- but when the story doesn't have all of the sources, it becomes biased. When it's not checked for accuracy, you face potential libel problems. It's big stuff.
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