12/8/2023 0 Comments Freedom of speech and pressAlong the way, the US government has scored some key victories in stifling the press. US history has been marked by an ongoing conflict between the government’s attempts to strengthen and protect itself and the press’s attempts to scrutinize and report on the government. And because a free press was so pivotal in their efforts to overthrow British rule, the Founding Fathers decided to protect that right with the First Amendment, ratified in 1791.īut the rights protected by the First Amendment have never been absolute. Speeches, pamphlets and newspapers were critical in informing and galvanizing public support for the revolt. “Some of the most important voices before and during the American Revolution were anonymous pamphleteers who were writing under pseudonyms, talking about the crimes of the British government,” Timm says. The US owes its existence in part to a free press. Here, Timm shares a brief overview of press freedom in America and explains why government whistleblowers are so vital to an independent press. The Foundation’s newest tool is the US Press Freedom Tracker, which monitors violations in the US. Timm, a lawyer and a TED Fellow, runs the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends journalists through Internet advocacy, crowdfunding campaigns and tools to protect reporters and their sources (including SecureDrop, a safe way for whistleblowers to send information to journalists). That’s right - 42 countries, including Ghana, South Africa and Jamaica - are judged by Reporters Without Borders to have greater press freedom than the United States, whose freedom is enshrined in its most important document. For these reasons, the US ranks number 43 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. Journalists are also increasingly being stopped and searched at US borders, and they’ve recently been arrested for covering protests at the inauguration and at Standing Rock. What’s perhaps less widely known is the Obama administration’s prosecution of a record eight whistleblowers for leaking government secrets to the media. This trend goes beyond the current president and his administration branding credible news outlets as “fake news” and threatening journalists and leakers with lawsuits. “It has always been the bulwark against secret government, against authoritarianism and against tyranny.”Īmericans take great pride in their press freedom. “The First Amendment is the safety valve of our democracy,” says US free press advocate Trevor Timm (TED Talk: How free is our freedom of the press?). It protects free speech and a free press in America (in addition to religion, assembly and petition) without it, the country would look completely different. The First Amendment of the US Constitution is only 45 words, but it packs a punch. Sacha Vega/TED An independent press is one of the essential pillars of a democracy, and we need to support journalists and whistleblowers alike to protect it, says lawyer and free press advocate Trevor Timm.
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