The Impulse To Censor News
Could there be government regulation of news content in this country if there is public dissatisfaction with the news media or use of a new technology? Will a federal agency again be granted oversight power to provide balance in news coverage and a limitation on partisan expression of points of view or what an agency finds is gross distortion? Will the reviewing courts uphold the constitutional protections of the First Amendment for the developing news media to protect free speech and a free press?
Public awareness of what it takes to maintain the First Amendment is sadly missing. Public opinion polls even suggest a majority of citizens might accept some government regulation of news content. Historians and government observers say our democracy depends upon a press free of government interference. But it is not at all unusual to hear people say about the press or news coverage, "Something must be done" and "something" is often understood as a "government something."
The fact is that the First Amendment, as interpreted by the courts during the 40 years from 1950 to 1990, was no protection against government regulation of television news content both in theory and in practice for balance and fairness under the Fairness Doctrine. It's even used in terrorem threats of the loss of the license to broadcast for doctrinal disobedience. There are now those who would bring back the essentials of that Doctrine under a different name, concealing its effect in actual practice.
The values of the first Amendment and the need to support them are not usually developed to any great extent in high school, college, or public and civic discussion. It is often left to a kind of public and cultural osmosis and an expectation that the public will rally around to protect them when they are threatened. But there seems no prevailing sense that government leaders must respect and affirmatively support them against the angers and emotions of the moment. And the public may not be equipped to respond to sophisticated public relations campaigns favoring news content regulations.
It is not clear that present and future generations will defend the First Amendment or prevent its erosion and the narrowing of free press protection. The record of the Federal Communications Commission shows how relatively easy it was to bring about news content regulation for the good purposes claimed in the Fairness Doctrine. It is likely to happen again.
