Freedom of American press

Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It says: “Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom... of the press”.

American press still has always been active in criticizing the government and its officials. Primarily because American press has always been independent and has never got money from the government. As a result American press has always had a strong tradition of investigative reporting, starting from John Peter Zenger.This strong tradition of investigative reporting in the US, when journalists dig out secret information, dealing with the Government, has become even stronger since 1966.

In 1966 a special act regulating freedom of speech was passed by the Congress. The FOIA or The Freedom of Information Act allows newspaper reporters to get any information from government agencies. Courts cannot stop a story from being printed or published. To get information from the federal government under the FOIA, any person – a reporter, a citizen, even a foreigner - should send his/her request in writing to the FOIA officer in the agency that has the information needed. One can ask to look through the records or receive copies. The agency may charge reasonable fees for searching and copying the records. The agency’s reply is to be ready in 10 days. In 10 days the records should be sent out. If the response is not sent in 10 days or the fees are not reasonable (in 1990 The US Department of Energy asked for 1 mln $ for sending travel records of the Secretary of Energy) the agency can be sued for obstructing the law (from “Britain 2009”).

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11