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Philosophical Background First Amendment The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...." Amendment I "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging 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." While the First Amendment is substantially broader in its scope than simply freedom of the press, all of the activities protected by the First Amendment are interrelated. The extraordinary protection granted to the Press was deemed necessary by our Founding Fathers to foster a free market place of ideas, a market place of ideas in which the diversity of politics, religion, philosophy and life style could flourish unfettered by government interference. However, this freedom granted to the Press carried with it a correlative responsibility. The role of a free press in a free society is to provide the citizenry with the information necessary to enable them to play an active role in democratic life. The news reporting press impliedly promises its readers that it is telling the whole, unvarnished truth, and bears the responsibility to report fully, accurately and fairly events of importance to citizens. To the extent that information is not reported fully or is not accurately or fairly presented, the Press fails to fulfill its promise to its readers. Inaccurate, incomplete and unfairly presented news leaves citizens inherently unable to make informed, intelligent decisions in the exercise of their democratic rights. All of society suffers from this failure. Just as it is important for citizen advocates to vigorously defend the Press from unreasonable government intrusion, it is equally important for citizen advocates to vigorously defend the public from irresponsible reporting by the Press. EyeOnThePost's mission focuses on maintaining, encouraging and restoring responsible reporting. All contents Copyright ©2002 EyeOnThePost.org The Washington Post is a trademark of The Washington Post Company. EyeOnThePost.org is not affiliated with The Washington Post Company. Please see our Disclaimer