NCJ Number
78701
Date Published
1978
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This edited transcript of a public policy forum examines the role of the press under the first amendment.
Abstract
The participants discuss the competing interests of the news media, the Government, and the public, including a defendant's right to a fair trial and the press's need to protect confidential sources. Some argue that new legislative safeguards are needed to protect the press from Government searches and subpoenas. Others believe that such special immunities would lead to broadened Government regulation of the media. These and other issues are considered in terms of several recent and important judicial decisions. Participants include a former television news executive and several journalists and law professors. Legal cases are cited. (Author summary modified)