Kirsten Lundberg, Knight Case Studies Initiative
The Journalism School, Columbia University
Pre-workshop reading: Web | PDF
The First Amendment provides enormous press freedom in the United States. However, around the globe, many countries do not have the same level of protection for the rights of journalists or other publishers. Singapore is a case in point. There, the press does not have the same kind of freedom we enjoy in the U.S. to publish articles critical of those in power. Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and many other national and international publications, learned that first hand when the news organization’s Far Eastern Economic Review published a story that was critical of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. What happens when press values and cultures collide? What can we learn from this example in terms of the importance of the value of the First Amendment and legal protection for the right to hold public officials accountable?
