Randall P. Bezanson explores the contradictions embedded in understanding press freedom in America by discussing nine of the most pivotal and provocative First Amendment cases in US judicial history. Each case resulted in a ruling that refined or reshaped judicial definition of the limits of press freedom.

The cases concerned matters ranging from The New York Times's publication of the Pentagon Papers to Hugo Zacchini's claim that TV broadcasts of his human cannonball act threatened his livelihood. Bezanson also examines the case of politician blackballed by the Miami Herald; the Pittsburgh Press's argument that it had the right to use gender based column headings in its classifieds; and a crime victim suing the Des Moines Register over the paper's publication of intimate details, including the victim's name.

| Introduction i 1. The Purpose of Press Freedom 5 Freedom to Publish (New York Times Co. v. United States) 7 2. Editorial Judgment 58 Freedom to Decide What to Publish (Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo) 59 Truth and Uncertainty (Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton) 83 3. News 105 News and Entertainment (Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Company) 107 News and Commerce (Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations) 129 4. Privacy and Responsibility 163 Protecting Privacy (Bartnicki v. Vopper) 165 What Is the Public's Business? (Howard v. Des Moines Register & Tribune Company) 209 5. Newsgathering and Press Conduct 230 Legal Privilege: Above the Law? (Food Lion v. ABC) 232 Newsgathering and Press Independence (Berger v. Hanlon) 239 6. How Free Can the Press Be? 250 | Selected by the American Library Association as the Best of the Best from the University Presses — American Library Association
|Randall P. Bezanson was the David H. Vernon Professor of Law at the University of Iowa. His books include How Free Can Religion Be?