JRN 101 FINAL STUDY GUIDE 1 Part I Midterm Information and Quiz Information prior to Midterm Question Who set up the first British printing press Answer William Caxton Why did the government seek to restrict the printing press The government wanted to maintain power so they set limitations on publishing bonds taxation licensing in order to reduce the amount of published works and readers Also whatever was published was required to be approved by the government beforehand so no complaints or negative statements were to be made about the government True or False British control of the press during the 300 years following the first printing press was generally successful Answer True from talking to the press Do you think a judge should be able to issue a gag order to prevent parties involved in the case A gag order form of prior restraint is an order typically a legal order by a court or government restricting information or comment from being made public or in some cases passed onto any unauthorized third party o Prior restraint is censorship imposed usually by a government on expression before the expression actually takes place Prevent libel defamation in other media such as printed words or images or false information from being published Gag orders may be used for example to keep legitimate trade secrets of a company to protect the integrity of ongoing police or military operations or to protect the privacy of victims or minors Conversely as their downside they may be abused as a useful tool for those of financial means to intimidate witnesses and prevent release of information using 2 the legal system rather than other methods of intimidation A gag law may limit freedom of the press by instituting censorship or restricting access to information Gag orders interfere with efforts to gather and disseminate news Orders prohibiting participants in a case from commenting to reporters or the public also infringe on the First Amendment rights of the individuals gagged Do you think the First Amendment should also protect the distribution of ideas and messages in addition to the publication of ideas and messages My opinion Yes Publication is a technical term in legal contexts and especially important in copyright legislation An author of a work generally is the initial owner of the copyright on the work One of the copyrights granted to the author of a work is the exclusive right to publish the work In the United States publication is defined as o The distribution of copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental lease or lending The offering to distribute copies to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution public performance or public display constitutes publication A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication Distribution the final stage in publication involves making the product available to the public usually by offering it for sale Prior restraint of distribution is unconstitutional because publication and distribution of what has been published go hand in hand Generally what does the First Amendment say with regard to the press Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech and of the press What other rights does the First Amendment protect Freedom of expression 3 Freedom of the people to peaceably assemble The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances Freedom of religion Question What did the first printing presses allow one to do Answer Communicate with masses of people Should the news media be the watchdog Fourth Estate over the other three branches of government The three branches of government executive legislative and judicial make enforce and interpret laws and public policy The media tells the people what the three branches of government are doing Just as the three branches have a system of checks and balances that keeps one branch from wielding too much power the media are the watchdog of all three branches and they keep the public informed of the government s activities good and bad Without the media people would know little about what our elected officials are doing The press plays a valuable role for the American people and is a fundamental aspect of our democracy Without the media the American people won t have the type of information they need to hold their leaders to account o The press is performing a necessary adversarial function An adversarial process is designed to uncover deceit and falsehood by ensuring that claims and arguments are subjected to meaningful scrutiny by some opposing force An adversarial press means that it views its function as a watchdog over the Government as a check on its power It fulfills that function by viewing Government statements and actions skeptically and with the intent to scrutinize them and determine their truth rather than mindlessly convey what the Government asserts A few years ago there was a book that provides instructions on how to be a hit man Should such My opinion as long as the book did not advocate homicide and encourage the reader to commit a book be allowed to be published such a crime then yes 4 Should citizens be able to criticize the president in times of national crises My opinion to take away then rights from a citizen would undermine democracy so yes The Arguments Against Silencing Free Speech in Times of Crisis there is no evidence that giving up our political liberties is going to help the economy If anything freedom of speech is vital when we have a new situation with new problems Creative ideas are needed that can be floated and tested in the public dialogue before being tried out In a crisis it becomes clearer than in peacetime that the economy is not independent of what happens in the political arena If the economy is to function better some tasks are perhaps not best handled by the private economy for example security personnel at airports Unless we can debate that issue our decisions are likely to be arbitrary and unintelligent Should there be a suspension of civil liberties during times of national crises Why My opinion no although I could understand the public may wish this because of fear in times of national crises it would result in many otherwise innocent citizens being punished Suspension of civil liberties during times of national crises have led to catastrophic events such as Japanese internment camps and deportation of otherwise innocent immigrants and many restrictions