Another Step toward Totalitarianism?
By Richard Winchester
AmericanThinker.com
February 28, 2014
Among its other virtues, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press. A series of Supreme Court decisions, probably beginning with Near v. Minnesota 283 U.S. 697 (1931), which was the precedent for the famous “Pentagon Papers” case (New York Times Co. v. United States [403 U.S. 713 (1971)]), upheld freedom of the press by striking down any government attempt to impose prior restraint and/or censorship. Other SCOTUS decisions during the 20th century consistently buttressed the notion of a free press, which is essential for a free polity.
Once-upon-a-time, it was assumed that the press’ “ink-stained wretches,” along with those toiling for electronic media outlets, would rise up in righteous indignation to oppose any attempt by government and/or non-governmental entities to restrict press freedoms.
Things seem to be changing. Shortly after Reporters Without Borders released its 2014 report showing that the U.S. ranks 46th among the world’s nations in freedom of the press, down 13 spots from 2012, there are new revelations that the Federal Communications Commission had authorized a study that bodes ill for press freedom.
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