Missed Opportunity: Educating Newspaper Readers about First Amendment Values

Abstract

Historical examination of how editorial writers explained important First Amendment decisions by the Supreme Court indicates that readers received short shrift in terms of how editorial writers discussed free expression issues and values. Editorial writers, often poorly versed themselves in the kinds of legal issues under judicial review and dependent on largely untrained reporters for details, concentrated their editorial judgments on reported facts of the cases, not issues, values or implications for society.