Freedom of Press and Speech
"Communication of political, economic, social, and other views is not accomplished solely by face-to-face speech, broadcast speech, or writing in newspapers, periodicals, and pamphlets"(Freedom of Expression-Speech and Press).
"The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable"(Freedom of Expression-Speech and Press).
How Speech and Press are affected by the internet
On the World Wide Web, people want to be heard and recognized. Their ideas and views on life might be influenced by the publishers of the internet. John Paul Stevens, a key individual of the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC), believes that "governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas, rather than to encourage it" (Paul). This means that when the government is regulating what citizens can and can't say, that their regulations are more of interference than a help.
All around the world, people want to express their ideas and views on blogs, their own web pages, podcasts, etc. The internet, however, limits web users in many cases. For example, blog users are discriminated because their blogs are "categorical and unqualified" (Toner). Another reason why blog posters are limited is because they contain bias and false information. These types of blogs affect the public because they influence the minds of younger citizens.
Although freedom of speech is affected by the internet, freedom of press is not. Many might think that news documents and other sources used on the internet are biased and false. However, many books and magazine articles are biased and assumed to be false in the non digital world. Tabloids, for example, contain false and biased information. Tabloid articles can also be viewed on the internet and they contain the exact information as the articles on the shelfs of your local bookstore. News paper articles are also able to be viewed on the internet. The New York Times's website, is a great example of how a regular news paper can be viewed with the exact same content as a paper copy of the newspaper has. Magazine articles can also be viewed on the internet. The internet has no affect on the internet because of the non digital sources available to the public that are nearly identical to the ones on the internet.
Many internet users are sometimes limited to what they can post on the internet, blog users especially. American citizens are limited to their freedom's of speech on the internet. Although American's right to express their views and ideas on the internet are limited, freedom of press is not. Newspapers and tabloids contain the same content in a non-digital form as they are in digital form. In conclusion, internet users are limited to what they can post on the internet, and press articles online contain the exact same content as they do offline.
By Dan V.