Under Purityrannical Pressure: The Free Press Resolution to Information Crises

Abstract

Government information changed by a keystroke to serve political ends. Millions of Americans unable to access the Internet because telecom companies lobby state governments. The banning of books, closing of libraries, and criminalization of librarians suppress LGBT voices. The actions abuse power while hiding behind “fair and balanced” government information, “unfair competition” with government services, and “protecting children” from corrupting, sexual literature, making the actions purityrannical. The resolution to these crises come from an old understanding of the First Amendment’s freedom of the press, not as institutional journalists, but as an infrastructure that moves free speech through publishing, transmitting, and distributing the information to the people. The Constitution, laws and agencies passed and established by Congress, and the holdings of numerous Supreme Court cases reveal this infrastructure, but it must be formally recognized to resolve these crises and protect the First Amendment from future purityrannical attacks.