An Essay by Cory Bohon

Question: Should American Press be restricted by Government?

American Press should not be touched by the Government. As soon as the Government starts interfering with the press, is the same time that our first amendment rights are at stake. When the writers of the constitution gave us our first amendment rights, they meant that we could say and print anything we want, within reason.

There are, however, some things that should be monitored by Governmental agencies. Such things include: public television and radio. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) does do content control for these public offerings, such as screening for vulgarity. However, that is where it should end.

Government should not be something that is always breathing down people’s necks. Governmental Agencies such as the FCC, are often times extremely wasteful with both resources and tax payers money!

Content Control, furthermore, should only be enacted on public services of television and radio. If one wanted to see the unedited versions of news broadcasts, they could subscribe via satellite, cable, or podcast to see these versions.

Today, we live in a technologically advanced world, allowing access to vast amounts of resources. these resources, such as the internet, should be able to go on without Government interference. The internet should remain the go-to-place for completely uncensored news. With the internet, you’re able to view and read about both sides of the news.

This nightmare may be closer than one might think. At this present time, AT&T and other Telecommunication’s Companies are lobbying in Congress. What do they want? They want censorship of the internet, where one would have to pay more to access certain websites over others. This is completely unfair. So starts the fight for our First Amendment Rights on the internet.