Abstract
Dean Lee Bollinger's most recent book -- Images of a Free Press 1 -- comes at a time in which both the press and the First Amendment are under searching scrutiny. Complaints about the press-protectiveness of libel law 2 vie with charges of press bias, sensationalism, and scandal-mongering. 3 Those doing the complaining have easy targets. Economic incentives lead local newscasts to focus on fires, crimes, and plane crashes. 4 Network news narratives, particularly in the political arena, are often driven by the whiff of scandal or employ sports metaphors like the "horse race." 5 Politicians pitch their appeals on MTV, soliciting viewers suspected of having attention spans of a nanosecond. Not suprisingly, public confidence in traditional journalism is at a low ebb. 6 New evidence suggests that even journalists themselves are dissatisfied with their news organizations' effectiveness in informing the public. 7 At the same time, commentators increasingly perceive traditional approaches to the First Amendment as ripe for examination. On the one hand, elite law reviews abound with challenges to libertarian interpretations of the Free Speech Clause. 8 On the other hand, expansive free speech language marks both recent Supreme Court opinions 9 and scholarly critiques of the calls for "positive" interpretations of the First Amendment. 10 Since the 1980s, market-based deregulatory arguments have convinced the Federal Communications Commission to revise many of its regulations of broadcast licensees in order to bring the broadcast medium into greater First Amendment parity with the assertedly freer print press. 11 For these ...