As the famous quote by Lord Acton states so pithily: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" (Martin 4). Democracy is a fragile construct precisely because power can corrupt the best of men. For this reason, democracy can only flourish when the citizenry has access to information and knowledge of their government's actions. An informed public is the foundation upon which democratic governments are constructed; any state in which the media is controlled by the government will never produce an informed citizenry. This paper will analyze the makeup of a free press and focus on its importance to democratic government.
What is a free press? Simply put, a free press refers to "the right of the press to freely publish, editorialize,
critique, and inform" the public (USAID 5). Inherent in this right is the absence of government interference in the operations of the press. A free press must have the ability to question the government's actions, to criticize the performance of elected officials and other government spokesmen, and to publish opinions no matter what they are or whether they run counter to the government's interests. The American Founding Fathers, when they established the United States Constitution, knew the perils of government interference with the press having faced the censorship of the British crown. It is for this reason that the very first amendment to the Constitution enshrined the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press: Congress shall make no lawàabridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (1st Amendment). As Thomas Jefferson noted, "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter" (Demac 50). The question then becomes why is a free...