The American Democrat/On the Liberty of the Press
ON THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.
What is called the liberty of the press, is very generally misconceived. In despotic, or narrow governments, persons, styled censors, are appointed to examine the columns of journals, before the latter are issued, with power to suppress all offensive or injurious articles. This, of course, is putting the press under the control of government, and the press is not a free press, since it cannot publish what its editors please. By the liberty of the press, we are to understand, only, an exemption from this restraint, or a condition of things which enables the citizen to publish what he please, as he can utter what he may please with his tongue.
All men, in a civilized country, however, are responsible for what they say, or publish. If a man speak slander against another, he is liable to the individual injuried, in damages. If a man publish a libel, he incurs the same liability. Some persons suppose that the press possesses privileges, in this respect, that are not accorded to individuals; but the reverse is the fact, as a man may utter with impunity, that which he cannot publish with impunity. The distinction arises from the greater circulation, and the greater power to injure, of a published libel, than of a spoken slander. The editor of a journal, therefore, does not possess the same immunities as an editor, that he possesses as a private citizen. Without such a distinction the community would possess a set of men in its bosom, who would enjoy a power to tyrannize over it, with impunity, through its means of publicity.
The liberty of the press, in principle, resembles the liberty to bear arms. In the one case, the constitution guaranties a right to publish; in the other, a right to keep a musket; but he who injures his neighbor with his publications may be punished, as he who injures his neighbor with his musket may be punished.
The constitution of the United States does not guaranty even the right to publish, except as against the laws of congress, as has been previously stated; the real liberty of the press depending altogether on the provisions of the several state governments, in common with most of the other liberties and rights of the citizen.