Taking the “Pres” Out of Press: A Look at New York Times Co. v. U.S.

In 1971, there was a court case that set a precedent for the Government’s role in the media. When the founding fathers constructed the Constitution, they wrote very strict rules for Government’s intervention in religion, speech, assembly, petition, and press in the first amendment. During the Vietnam War, a defense analyst named Daniel Ellsberg leaked a large file that detailed all of the United States’ formerly-concealed involvement in Vietnam to the New York Times and the Washington Post. President Nixon’s administration made moves to block their publications of the so-called “Pentagon Papers.”

Not wanting to be censored, The New York Times Company sued, and it got appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court ruled in favor of the New York Times, citing that “prior restraint” (Government censorship of the media) is unconstitutional, and that the New York Times’ writing about the Pentagon Papers did not pose any immediate threat to American forces. This case is very important to consider today, when the news is highly propagandized and monetized, and censorship is both nowhere and everywhere in a divided nation. So consider: how big of a hand should the Government play in the news/media? What about private businesses?

Written by Cody Roark