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U
S A 1. CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK The original Constitution, drafted in 1787, contained no specific
provisions concerning the press. But popular pressure for more detailed
guarantees of individual freedoms resulted, in 1791, in ten constitutional
amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. The first of those amendments
states that ?Congress shall make no law? abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press.?? All state and federal statutes that involve
the media are scrutinized in light of that constitutional guarantee.
In the interest of responsible journalism, state and federal legislatures
have passed laws that exempt some kinds of speech from protection.
Examples of exempted speech include sedition, threats to public
safety and the national defense, pornography, some commercial speech,
libel and slander, and invasion of privacy.
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