COMM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Imminent Lawless Action, Espionage Act Of 1917, Commercial Speech
13 Jun 2018
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Media and Freedom of Expression
The First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press."
A hallmark of American free speech law is that it prohibits the government from
censoring or punishing hate speech. In public forums, the law allows hate speech
and expressions of hate—verbal attacks on homosexuals near the site of a funeral
of a military veteran, burning a cross on the lawn of an African American couple,
calls for the overthrow of the US government by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
It’s all protected under the Constitution.
Prior Restraint : the power of the government to prevent the publication or
broadcast of expression
Licensing laws--forbade any printing without a government license
Peter Zenger trial of 1734-35-- changed the terms under which someone could be
held guilty of libel
Argued that the mere assertion of libel without proof of a libel was insufficient to
put a printer in jail.
revealed popular support in the colonies for freedom of expression and laid the
foundation for establishing freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights. It
established the right of citizens to criticize government officials.
The First Amendment protects speech that offends, impassions and angers.
Certain categories of speech, including obscenity, "fighting words," libel,
commercial speech and words likely to cite "imminent lawless action" receive
limited or no protection.
Espionage Act, 1917--any statement that might interfere with the success of the
armed forces, incite disloyalty or obstruct recruiting to the Army became a
punishable offense
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