A few weeks ago, I posted a piece about press freedom in Germany and the rest of Europe. Obviously, press freedom is a universal issue that impacts every country in some manner or another. In the U.S., there has been an ongoing discussion about the limits of press freedom. Americans were recently reminded of this debate when a video blogger was put in prison for refusing to turn over video he used for a story he posted on his blog. This was on the heals of the case of Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter who was jailed for failing to reveal her source for a story a series of stories she wrote for the Times. In light of these recent high profile cases, academics in America are calling for the Courts to revisit the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Branzburg v. Hayes, holding that reporters cannot use the First Amendment's freedom of press right to refuse to cooperate with a criminal investigation.
23 November 2007
Press Freedom Revisited
A few weeks ago, I posted a piece about press freedom in Germany and the rest of Europe. Obviously, press freedom is a universal issue that impacts every country in some manner or another. In the U.S., there has been an ongoing discussion about the limits of press freedom. Americans were recently reminded of this debate when a video blogger was put in prison for refusing to turn over video he used for a story he posted on his blog. This was on the heals of the case of Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter who was jailed for failing to reveal her source for a story a series of stories she wrote for the Times. In light of these recent high profile cases, academics in America are calling for the Courts to revisit the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Branzburg v. Hayes, holding that reporters cannot use the First Amendment's freedom of press right to refuse to cooperate with a criminal investigation.
