Many people define ‘bias’ as ‘anything that doesn’t agree with me.’ But are the news media really biased?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Freedom of the press
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Russia’s bravest and most significant independent media have now been forced to close.
Under the Sullivan standard, a public official has to prove that there was ‘actual malice’ in defamation cases. That could be challenged in the Supreme Court.
It’s gospel for First Amendment advocates that lawsuits against news organizations chill freedom of the press. But in an era of rampant misinformation, such legal actions may be more accepted.
Charges of media bias are nothing new, though they’ve gotten louder since 2016, led by President Trump. But a press free to take a variety of viewpoints was the founders’ intention.
The freedom of the press is important, and of course it must be protected. But the freedom of everybody else and of ordinary citizens is also important.
Julian Assange’s indictment under the Espionage Act, a sweeping law with heavy penalties for unauthorized receiving or disclosing of classified information, poses a threat to press freedom.
Americans are overwhelmingly committed to a free press and hostile to government restrictions, a new poll finds. But the country is divided on the meaning of President Trump’s attacks on the press.
The Trump administration’s hostility toward journalists is raising new questions about what rights journalists have to access government officials and events.
While some African countries have shown an improvement in press freedom and freedom of expression ratings, others, including South Africa, are seeing worrying trends and a drop in rankings.
Top contributors
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Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Indiana University
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Research Fellow, University of Antwerp (Belgium) and University of the Free State (South Africa), University of the Free State
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Professor of Communication, Radford University
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Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Oregon
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Director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of Florida
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Survey Director, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Michigan State University
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Associate professor, University of South Africa
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Lecturer in Journalism and Digital Media, Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield
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Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Policy, Aston University
