The Freedom of the Press

Freedom of the press is American’s right to share and show their opinion to the public. This right is protected by the first amendment:

“Congress shall make no law, respecting on establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; and to petition the government for a redress grievances.”

Even though is protected by the constitution, many people, especially journalists still argue and complain that is not free enough. United States still censored in some way before the media publishes to the audience. I’m glad that United States still censored the media, because I would prefer not to see inappropriate and listen to profanity in the media. Even though, sometimes I still catch some of those things in television.

As an international student here in Lindenwood University, I want to share to you information about the freedom of the press in Indonesia. In my country, there is no freedom of the press; everything has to pass the government before it publishes to the public. There is a big difference when I came here and try to adapt with American cultures. Because in America you can share your opinion and idea with everyone without worry about if somebody going to snitch on you. In my opinion, it will be a lot better if we have freedom of the press and the constitution that protect that Right because it will help the Indonesian government because we can share our opinion and idea to solve the problems that we face.

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Freedom of the press often used towards negative things. For example, Gitlow v. New York. This was a case where a socialist, Benjamin Gutlow tell all the union members to overthrown the government in New York. Of course, he lost the case and the Supreme Court threw him to jail. In this case he was used the freedom of the press in a negative way that could attack the government of the United States.

In conclusion, I think people need freedom of the press to express and share their opinions with everyone. But they have to keep their ideas and opinion in positive way and responsible with what their activities. I really hope that other countries including Indonesia can also have freedom of the press in the future because without freedom of the press it is really hard to know what is going on and to find out the truth about anything.