"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press- (United States Constitution 1789). Throughout the history of the United States of America, the Constitution has always been put to the test. The founders of this great country originally created the first amendment to allow colonists to speak out against the British. In the 17th century, the press was accurate and informative with little competition among journalists. But today in the 21st century the circumstances are different and the stakes are higher. Due to incredibly high amount of competition among journalists today, the information is usually exaggerated in order to capture a viewing audience.
Censorship is defined as "Policy of restricting the public expression of ideas, opinions, conceptions, and impulses, which are believed to have the capacity to undermine the governing authority or the social and moral order which authority considers itself bound to protect" (Abraham 357). Political, religious, obscenity, and censorship affecting academic freedom are all equal in their destructiveness towards free speech. "There are two different forms that censorship takes; prior, which refers to advance suppression and "post facto" which is suppression after it has been published" (Calvocoressi 10). Since the beginning of the written word, authorities have used both of these forms of censorship.
The media is everywhere you turn. You can find the media in many different forms such as television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and now on the information superhighway, the Internet. In the process of capturing ratings, who is the media hurting more? Is it the people who are accused of a crime, such as O.J. Simpson, or is it the American public's own fault for believing everything they hear? In my view, some limitations greatly need to be placed upon the first amendment of the U.