Free Essays on Freedom Of Speech

Freedom of Speech At the heart of the First Amendment, it is the recognition of the fundamental importance to the free flows of ideas that brings this society together as the gathering place for the world. Many people associate America as such only because of the individual freedoms that are offered, especially important is the freedom of speech, which without we cannot govern properly. Because of all the freedoms accessible to any person holding the title of citizen, they feel no oppression to what they hold important as they contribute different opinions to society as a whole, particularly criticism in non-obstructive ways. In a democracy, there is always an existing tension between a free press and the government, between what the government claims ought to be kept confidential and what reporters believe the public ought to know. Rarely has this conflict been clearer than in the infamous Pentagon Papers case. In 1967, the Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, ordered a full-scale evaluation of how the United States became involved in the Vietnam War. A study team of thirty-six people took more than a year to compile the report, which consisted of forty-seven volumes, with some 4,000 pages of documentary evidence and 3,000 pages of analysis. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department economist who apparently had felt so concerned about his involvement in the Vietnam tragedy that he copied major portions of the study and then turned them over to the press. On June 13, 1971, the New York Times began publishing the papers, and the Nixon administration immediately sought to stop further publication. In Near v. Minnesota, Chief Justice Hughes had noted that the rule against prior restraint would not apply in certain cases. No one would question, Hughes declared, "that a government might prevent actual obstruction to its recruiting service or the publication of the sailing days of transports or the number and location of troops... Free Essays on Freedom Of Speech Free Essays on Freedom Of Speech Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is the liberty to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related liberty to hear what others have stated. Recently, it has been commonly understood as encompassing all types of expression, including the freedom to create and distribute movies, pictures, songs, dances, and all other forms of expressive communication. Freedom of speech is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies, where it is understood to outlaw government censorship. Free speech is nowadays also protected by international human rights law, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, although implementation remains lacking in many countries.The right to freedom of expression is not considered unlimited. Some Americans grossly overestimate the degree of censorship which occurs in other First World countries, and believe that completely free speech exists and only exists in the USA. This is not the case. The U.S. Government directly controls speech in a number of areas, most notably in the case of the Federal Communications Commission regulating broadcast radio and television. Much content which would be considered unexceptional in most other First World countries is directly censored by the FCC, since it falls foul of the "community standards" definition of obscenity or indecency. An increasing amount of video content is now sent over cable and satellite systems (thus escaping FCC review), and there has been some debate over whether the FCC should have jurisdiction over such communications systems.Similar censorship applies to items sent via the United States Postal Service. Certain state and local governments (it depends on the region) regularly exercise censorship power in their li censing of theatrical performances, movies and other entertainment or artistic works. However it is true that in terms of purely political or religious speech, and freedom of the (printed) press... Free Essays on Freedom Of Speech Freedom of Speech At the heart of the First Amendment, it is the recognition of the fundamental importance to the free flows of ideas that brings this society together as the gathering place for the world. Many people associate America as such only because of the individual freedoms that are offered, especially important is the freedom of speech, which without we cannot govern properly. Because of all the freedoms accessible to any person holding the title of citizen, they feel no oppression to what they hold important as they contribute different opinions to society as a whole, particularly criticism in non-obstructive ways. In a democracy, there is always an existing tension between a free press and the government, between what the government claims ought to be kept confidential and what reporters believe the public ought to know. Rarely has this conflict been clearer than in the infamous Pentagon Papers case. In 1967, the Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, ordered a full-scale evaluation of how the United States became involved in the Vietnam War. A study team of thirty-six people took more than a year to compile the report, which consisted of forty-seven volumes, with some 4,000 pages of documentary evidence and 3,000 pages of analysis. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department economist who apparently had felt so concerned about his involvement in the Vietnam tragedy that he copied major portions of the study and then turned them over to the press. On June 13, 1971, the New York Times began publishing the papers, and the Nixon administration immediately sought to stop further publication. In Near v. Minnesota, Chief Justice Hughes had noted that the rule against prior restraint would not apply in certain cases. No one would question, Hughes declared, "that a government might prevent actual obstruction to its recruiting service or the publication of the sailing days of transports or the number and location of troops...