What, Exactly, Is The "Press?" What Is Our Freedom?

The First Amendment guarantees US citizens "freedom of the press." Some seem to believe that freedom no longer exists and that the "Press" is dominated by corporations and large organizations. Part of the "Press" is, but those media are not the whole press. They never were. They never will be. The "Press" that is mentioned in the First Amendment is something much broader than that.

In the early days of this country, broadsides, written by individuals, were the equivalent of todays blogs. It is, actually, those broadsides that the founders were thinking about when they wrote the First Amendment. They guaranteed the right to publish, not the right to have your thoughts distributed far and wide. That's the responsibility of the person doing the publishing. They were also thinking about the itinerant lecturer who went from town to town and spoke on whatever subject he or she wished. They were thinking about the young publisher who wanted to start a newspaper in his small town, despite the domination of another newspaper.

Now we are a nation of some 300+ million people. No part of the press reaches them all. MSNBC gets, maybe, a million viewers for its programs. That's all. A third of a percent of the population. Fox gets somewhat more, but not all that much more. There is no universal medium in this country any longer.

However, the smallest blog is still an exercise of that same freedom. The smallest blog has the potential to be read by a vast number of people, just as does the largest publication or website. There is no guarantee of distribution, only a guarantee that you can publish your thoughts.

Whether those thoughts are read by many, a few, or none at all is not the purview of the government. DU is a good example. Some original posts here have thousands of views, and are copied on other websites. Others have almost no views and are quickly forgotten. It is the quality of the posts and the interest of visitors here that determines which get read and which do not. David Allen provides a medium where any of us can post what we wish, within the limits that he, as a publisher, has set. Then, whoever comes here can select what they wish to read.

Google likes DU. If you create an OP here, the title of that OP will move to the top of Google search results almost instantly, and will be accessible to anyone searching for the essence of that title. As an example, go search for "Draft Jane Hamsher" (with or without the quotes). You'll find an OP of mine from today that was a parody of another post as the first result. It took less than five minutes to reach the top of search results.

Whether your words, immortal or not, are read is not a function of the First Amendment. It is a function of your skill in putting your words in the right place so that they will be found by people who don't know they are looking for your words. If your words strike a chord, people will seek them out in the future. That is how Jane Hamsher, for example, build FDL into a thriving blog. The same is true for any number of other bloggers.

If you think they have no impact, you are incorrect. Many blogs get more readers than some of the editorials in, say, the New York Times. We have all the media available to us, even as individuals, from the broadside copied at Kinkos and distributed by hand on the street corner, to blogs on the internet that can be read by anyone on the planet.

If your words and thoughts are not being read, the fault is not with the government or the corporations. It is with the quality of your thoughts and how you have presented them. Look at the videos that go viral on YouTube and are viewed by millions. YouTube is the medium. The expression is that of the individual.

Don't fool yourself. The individual voice still has expression in 21st century America. Just as always, though, not every voice is interesting enough to be read by millions. That's as tough a nut to crack today as it ever was. For every Thomas Paine, there were a hundred publishers of broadsides whose names you have never heard. So it is today as well.

The "Press" is not just one thing. It is everything that carries a message. DU is the "Press." My tiny website for the DFL precinct of which I am the chair is the "Press," too, as are my blogs and my posts here on DU. How many people read my writings? It depends. Sometimes almost none. Other times, my words reach around the world and are read by many thousands. It all depends on what I have to say and how well I manage to say it.

The same thing applies to every person who writes here, has a blog, or sends a letter to the editor of a local paper. It is not the medium. It is the message. If the message is powerful, it will be read. If it is not, it will not. Your First Amendment guarantee of Freedom of the Press has never been more easily used. You can start a blog of your own at no cost on any of a number of blog hosts. You can post your thoughts on forums like DU, which are important enough to be highly ranked by the search engines. If you write well, your letters can be published in the New York Times or any large newspaper. If you create videos, they can be hosted at no charge to you on YouTube or other video sites.

You have more freedom of expression in 2011 than ever in history, all guaranteed by the First Amendment. You have more outlets for your thoughts than ever existed before in history. The freedom of the press has never been more important nor more accessible to the individual. You are the press. Publish. You can publish anything you can imagine. Nobody will stop you. In fact, there are more ways to publish your work than you can imagine. If you have something to say, say it. Exercise your right. Do it well, and your voice will be heard.

have been seen years ago ... and from across the world. Your statement is so on track, "You have more freedom of expression in 2011 than ever in history, all guaranteed by the First Amendment. You have more outlets for your thoughts than ever existed before in history."

Well Done!!!

a long time.

That doesn't mean that the corporate megaphone isn't drowning out other voices, but I agree that we still have a free press. No matter how well we say things, we will still be drowned out by the corporate megaphone.

-Laelth

corporate press through sheer volume. We can make our voices heard.