Unit1. Press freedom

The fight for freedom in all its forms must persist or all is lost
Spiro, Greece

A. Lead-in:

1. Comment upon these quotations. Do you agree with them? How do you personally understand them?

Ø A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. Albert Camus

Ø The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. Tommy Smothers

Ø I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. Nancie J. Carmody

2. A free press has tremendous power, if power is defined as the capacity to influence others. The news media in a democracy generally have the right to report information without prior government approval.

Analyze the following list, singling out advantages and disadvantages of free press. Try to enlarge it.

It ensures a free society, evokes undue bias, maintains social harmony and peace, suggests stability, helps people gain control over their own lives, represents a plurality of opinions, and provokes situations where journalists become the objects of threats and bribes.

3. The freedom of American press is highly praised all over the world. Thomas Jefferson once said: “Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot by limited without being lost”. Another famous phrase of his also deals with freedom of press:” If I have to choose government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I will choose the latter”. I once said that Americans value their system of democracy, but this quote proves that they value their freedom of press even more.

Ø How do you believe if people in Russia value their freedom of press?

Ø Speak to your grandparents and inquire them about freedom of press and censorship about forty years ago?

I. Skim the text for general understanding. Which facts impressed you most?

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