Press Freedoms in the U.S.

A discussion on press freedoms in the U.S. and anonymous sources was held with students participating in Close Up Foundation’s week-long government studies program. Topics included ways American press freedoms are under threat such as court orders to reveal anonymous sources, the Espionage Act, and government censorship and self-censorship; how the First Amendment and states' Shield Laws are supposed to protect journalists and their sources; how the government uses wartime powers to restrict press freedoms; and tactics employed by government officials to prevent information that may affect their credibility from getting to the public.

W. Joseph Campbell is the author of Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies, published by Praeger. close