Warren E. Burger

“ It too often hammers away on one ideological or political line, using its monopoly position not to educate people, not to promote debate, but to inculcate in its readers one philosophy, one attitude — and to make money. ”

“ The First Amendment interest of the public in being informed is said to be in peril because the "marketplace of ideas" is today a monopoly controlled by the owners of the market.
Proponents of enforced access to the press take comfort from language in several of this Court's decisions which suggests that the First Amendment acts as a sword as well as a shield, that it imposes obligations on the owners of the press in addition to protecting the press from government regulation. ”

“ The power of a privately owned newspaper to advance its own political, social, and economic views is bounded by only two factors: first, the acceptance of a sufficient number of readers — and hence advertisers — to assure financial success, and second, the journalistic integrity of its editors and publishers. An attitude strongly adverse to any attempt to extend a right of access to newspapers was echoed by other Members of this Court in their separate opinions in that case. ”

“ Faced with the penalties that would accrue to any newspaper that published news or commentary arguably within the reach of the right-of-access statute, editors might well conclude that the safe course is to avoid controversy. Therefore, under the operation of the Florida statute, political and electoral coverage would be blunted or reduced. [23] Government-enforced right of access inescapably "dampens the vigor and limits the variety of public debate," New York Times Co. ”

“ Commission on Freedom of the Press, A Free and Responsible Press 15 (1947) .
The obvious solution, which was available to dissidents at an earlier time when entry into publishing was relatively inexpensive, today would be to have additional newspapers. But the same economic factors which have caused the disappearance of vast numbers of metropolitan newspapers, [16] have made entry into the marketplace of ideas served by the print media almost impossible. ”

“ As soon as the facts are set in their context, you have interpretation and you have selection, and editorial selection opens the way to editorial suppression. Then how can the state force abstention from discrimination in the news without dictating selection? ”

“ In effect, it is claimed, the public has lost any ability to respond or to contribute in a meaningful way to the debate on issues. The monopoly of the means of communication allows for little or no critical analysis of the media except in professional journals of very limited readership. ”

“ It is argued that the "uninhibited, robust" debate is not "wide-open," but open only to a monopoly in control of the press. Appellee cites the plurality opinion in 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964) , the Court spoke of "a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open." It is argued that the "uninhibited, robust" debate is not "wide-open," but open only to a monopoly in control of the press. Appellee cites the plurality opinion in Rosenbloom v. ”

“ Appellant declined to print the appellee's replies, and appellee brought suit in Circuit Court, Dade County, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and actual and punitive damages in excess of $5,000. The action was premised on Florida Statute § 104.38 (1973) , a "right of reply" statute which provides that, if a candidate for nomination or election is assailed regarding his personal character or official record by any newspaper, the candidate has the right to demand that the newspaper print, free of cost to the candidate, any reply the candidate may make to the newspaper's charges. ”

“ Because we hold that § 104.38 violates the First Amendment's guarantee of a free press, we have no occasion to consider appellant's further argument that the statute is unconstitutionally vague. ↑ . Brief for Appellee 5. ↑ . ↑ . See the description of the likely effect of the Florida statute on publishers, in Lange 70-71. ↑ . [L] iberty of the press is in peril as soon as the government tries to compel what is to go into a newspaper. A journal does not merely print observed facts the way a cow is photographed through a plateglass window. ”