Understanding Speech Rights
Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11267403 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura Stein (Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 102-120 |
| Publication date | 2004-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Media Culture & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0163443704039495 |
| OpenAlex | W1988617617 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
This article draws on liberal democratic theory to provide a philosophical foundation for understanding the relationship between speech rights and democracy. Utilizing the work of key political theorists, such as Mill, Friedman, Hayek, Green, Dewey and Barber, I argue that two conflicting theories of speech rights coexist within liberal democratic thought. I demonstrate how legal interpretations of the First Amendment manifest and reinforce these theories, which I label ‘defensive’ and ‘empowering’. Analysis of two Supreme Court cases widely recognized as pivotal in determining print and broadcast speech regimes, Red Lion Broadcasting v. Federal Communications Commission (1969) and Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974), highlights the role these theories play in legal thought. I conclude by arguing that empowering speech rights offer the best foundation for democratic communication, and by proposing a set of legal principles capable of revitalizing the meaning and function of speech rights in the USA
Democracy · Epistemology · Foundation (evidence · Law and economics · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Supreme court · Academic Freedom and Politics · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Philosophy
The political economy of communication
Capitalism and Freedom
The Critical Legal Studies Movement
The effects of mass communication
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
The Second Treatise of Government
Strong Democracy
Democracy and the Mass Media
Free Speech in an Open Society
John Locke, the individual, and the origin of communication
Communication as Culture, Revised Edition
The First Amendment meets some new technologies
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2011 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |