4 ms·

I always thought "the press" referred to the printing press and in a modern setting is taken to mean that the first amendment covers not only the spoken word (f

I always thought "the press" referred to the printing press and in a modern setting is taken to mean that the first amendment covers not only the spoken word (freedom of speech) but also the creation and distribution of media (freedom of the press).

jagged-chisel 3y ago
That’s correct. But it’s not at odds with considering “the press” as “journalists and their publishers.”
rtkwe 3y ago
Even if we read it as the literal printing press at the time that was the way news and information was distributed in large quantities. The press as a term for new media in general seems to be a late 1800s invention but the coverage is pretty clear from the First Amendment still.
- salawat 3y ago
  Funny how this courtesy is never extended to Amendments 2, 4, or 10.
  - Kye 3y ago
    Not only is there existing case law and an entire concept addressing limitations, it frequently comes up in First Amendment cases. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/compelling-state-interest/ https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/compelling-state-int...
dragonwriter 3y ago
That's exactly the issue: if the public is entitled to something, it can be published, and those intending to publish it can not therefore be barred from it or from the means to do so. Well, except for open public courts, for reasons. (The judiciary’s concern for the the freedom of the press has limits where it comes to the judiciary itself, rather than other government institutions.)
Dharejoe 3y ago
[dead]
cryptonector 3y ago
The literal printing press has freedom? What? No, it's "the press" that has freedom, and in 1791 that was understood to be "people and organizations that operate printing presses". That a printing press was involved is just an accident of the stage of technological development at which the First Amendment was written. The courts have rightly extended that freedom to other technologies than the printing press.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > The literal printing press has freedom? What? No, it's "the press" that has freedom. No, the people have freedom to use the press, just like the same Amendment protects the freedom to use speech.
  - cryptonector 3y ago
    Yes, thank you for the absolutely correct correction!

jagged-chisel 3y ago

That’s correct. But it’s not at odds with considering “the press” as “journalists and their publishers.”

rtkwe 3y ago

Even if we read it as the literal printing press at the time that was the way news and information was distributed in large quantities. The press as a term for new media in general seems to be a late 1800s invention but the coverage is pretty clear from the First Amendment still.

salawat 3y ago
Funny how this courtesy is never extended to Amendments 2, 4, or 10.
- Kye 3y ago
  Not only is there existing case law and an entire concept addressing limitations, it frequently comes up in First Amendment cases. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/compelling-state-interest/ https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/compelling-state-int...

dragonwriter 3y ago

That's exactly the issue: if the public is entitled to something, it can be published, and those intending to publish it can not therefore be barred from it or from the means to do so. Well, except for open public courts, for reasons. (The judiciary’s concern for the the freedom of the press has limits where it comes to the judiciary itself, rather than other government institutions.)

Dharejoe 3y ago

[dead]

cryptonector 3y ago

The literal printing press has freedom? What? No, it's "the press" that has freedom, and in 1791 that was understood to be "people and organizations that operate printing presses". That a printing press was involved is just an accident of the stage of technological development at which the First Amendment was written. The courts have rightly extended that freedom to other technologies than the printing press.

dragonwriter 3y ago
> The literal printing press has freedom? What? No, it's "the press" that has freedom. No, the people have freedom to use the press, just like the same Amendment protects the freedom to use speech.
- cryptonector 3y ago
  Yes, thank you for the absolutely correct correction!