The First Amendment, Broadcasting, and the Internet

Printed Page 434

As the film industry developed, the lack of clarity regarding the First Amendment’s protection of expression in movies prompted the industry to regulate itself. And as additional new media arose that our nation’s founders could not have envisioned—namely, broadcasting and the Internet—legislators and industry players once again began debating the question of how free these media are under the First Amendment. Different types of protections and levels of regulation developed in broadcast and cyberspace. While film eventually received protections similar to print in the 1952 Supreme Court ruling, broadcast is subject to fewer protections. The Internet is so relatively new that people are still debating how First Amendment rights might apply to it.