At Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh: The Free Press Clause as protecting all users of mass communications — responding to the redundancy objection. From the introduction:
In my new article on the history of the Free Press Clause, I argue that the freedom of the press was seen near the time of the Framing (and near the time of the ratification of the 14th Amendment, as well as in between and largely since) as protecting the right to use the press as technology — everyone’s right to use mass communications technology. It was not seen as protecting a right of the press as industry, which would have been a right limited to people who printed or wrote for newspapers, magazines, and the like.
One common response (which just came up on Thursday in some comments) is that arguments such as mine would make the freedom of the press a “constitutional redundancy” (to use Justice Potter Stewart’s phrase, from an article in which he was arguing for the “press as industry” interpretation). After all, the argument would go, the Free Speech Clause already protects people’s right to communication, in a wide range of media. What does the Free Press Clause then add?
Posted at 6:51 AM