American Journalism
and Freedom of the Press

Where to find the readings:

= Firestone Book Reserve. = University Store
= World Wide Web. = Firestone Electronic Reserve and/or course packet

Part I. The Historical Development of a Free Press

February 7. Introduction.

Anthony Lewis, Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment (New York: Random House, 1991), pp. 1-152.

February 14. The origins and meaning of the First Amendment

Leonard Levy, Emergence of a Free Press (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 3-117, 173-219.
David A. Anderson, "The Origins of the Press Clause, " U.C.L.A. Law Review 30 (February 1983), 455-541.
Kent Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1997 or later), Ch. 2: The First Amendment.

February 21. Rise of the popular press

Stephen Botein, " Printers and the American Revolution, " in Bernard Bailyn and John B. Hench, eds., The Press & the American Revolution (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1980), pp. 11-57.
Michael Schudson, Discovering the News (New York: Basic Books, 1978), pp. 3-120.
Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, "The Right of Privacy," Harvard Law Review 4 (1890), 191-220.

February 28. The press and the First Amendment in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries

David M. Rabban, Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 1-9.
Paul Boyer, Purity in Print: The Vice-Society Movement and Book Censorship in America (New York: Scribner's, 1968), pp. 1-52, 69-127, 207- 10, 252-59.
Lewis, Make No Law, pp. 153-163; 183-248.

March 7. Broadcasting and the First Amendment

Ithiel de Sola Pool,Technologies of Freedom (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983), pp. 1-10.
Lucas A. Powe, Jr., American Broadcasting and the First Amendment (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 1-45, 197-215.
Cass R. Sunstein, " A New Deal for Speech," in David S. Allen and Robert Jensen, Freeing the First Amendment (New York: New York University Press, 1995), 54-78.
Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 12: Regulation of Broadcasting.

March 14. The First Amendment and the New Media

Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union
Joshua Micah Marshall, "Will Free Speech Get Caught in the Web?" The American Prospect no. 36 (January-February1998), pp. 46-50.
Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 13: Regulation of Cable Television, Telephone, and New Electronic Media..

March 14-16. Take-home midterm.

Part II. Journalism and Freedom of the Press: Currrent Controversies

March 28. Short class: overview of issues. Individual meetings with students about research projects.

April 4. Scandal! Sensationalism, libel, and the growth of tabloid news and entertainment.

Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 3: Libel [mostly review].

April 11. Privacy versus the First Amendment

Middleton et al, The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 4: Privacy and Personal Security.

April 18. Combined session

Commercial interests and access to the media
Middleton et al., The Law of Public Communication, Ch. 6: Corporate Speech, and Ch. 7: Advertising.


Campaign finance reform and the First Amendment
Browse Idea Central's Issues in Depth: Campaign Finance Reform,, including:


Paul Starr, "The Loophole We Can't Close," The American Prospect (January-February 1998), pp. 6-9.
ACLU vs. the Brennan Center, Dialogue on campaign finance reform , American Prospect Online.

April 25. Combined session

Violent speech, hate speech, and "political correctness"
Cass R. Sunstein, "Is Violent Speech a Right?" The American Prospect no. 22 (Summer 1995), pp. 34-37.


Indecency, obscenity, and the First Amendment
Middleton et al, The Law of Public Communication, Ch.8: Obscenity.
Marjorie Heins, " Screening Out Sex: Kids, Computers, and the New Censors," The American Prospect no. 39: 38-44 .

May 2. The new media and free expression

Joshua Micah Marshall, "Will Free Speech Get Caught in the Web?" The American Prospect no. 36 (January-February1998), pp. 46-50.
Child Online Protection Act (COPA) - Overview.
Commission on Online Child Protection, Executive Summary of "Final Report to Congress" (October 20, 2000).
Jeff Chester and Gary O. Larson, "End of the Open Road?" The American Prospect (January 17, 2001), 42-45.
Geoffrey Nunberg, "The Internet Filter Farce" The American Prospect (January 1-15, 2001), 24-28.