This issue of "Journalism Monographs" deals specifically with the state of newspaper journalism in Sri Lanka, formerly the Dominion of Ceylon. The country's literacy rate is about 81 percent. The first section of this article is a general discussion of newspaper journalism in Sri Lanka, examining historical background and such press…

Staggered by some recent libel verdicts, many journalists are neglecting lessons about press freedom learned at great cost during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Journalists then learned that state power over the press, residing in the hands of either censors or judges, leads to a decrease in press freedom. In 1986, though, many media…

While the typical pantheon of journalism history heroes is made up almost entirely of individuals who campaigned for more governmental regulation and increased social liberalism, there is also an opposing tradition in American journalism, one based on the premise that governmental cures are in most cases worse than the diseases they are designed…

A descriptive study based on Egyptian law, printed sources, and interviews clarifies our picture of the Egyptian Press by examining its status as a constitutionally mandated "Fourth Estate." The constitutional amendment, the resultant Egyptian Press Law, and the "Law Of Shame" (all passed in 1980), are designed to create a…

The following 11 papers, on a variety of topics, were given at the 1990 meeting of the American Journalism Historians' Association: (1) "They Hang Editors Don't They?: Free Speech and Free Press Issues in the Haymarket Case, 1886" (Nathaniel Hong); (2) "G. K. Chesterton and the British Press, 1911-1933" (Dean Rapp); (3)…

In theory, the Chinese Communist press is required to engage in criticism of other institutions and of Party or government bureaucrats through its news coverage and self-criticism of its own mistakes in response to criticism from readers. In practice, Party control of the press prevents any effective criticism or self-criticism. Basically, the…

The career of James Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's older brother, provides a case study in the use of polemics for a free press. A printer who actively courted controversy, Franklin found it necessary to use an unusual variety of strategies and justifications to evade or overcome potential legal, religious, and economic restraints. He demonstrated…

The Scopes trial of 1925 drew many reporters to Dayton, Tennessee, to report on what they expected would be the final blow to ignorant fundamentalism. They came with many preconceived notions about Dayton, the people of Dayton, William Jennings Bryan, and creationism. Close examination of pretrial, trial, and posttrial coverage in eight…

Conference proceedings on the Native American Press in Wisconsin and the Nation present speeches and presentations pertaining to current American Indian publications and examples of analysis and synthesis created by Indian scholars. Topics of speeches presented include: an interpretive framework for Native American discourse; the early years of…

Argues that the advertising industry's influence on the press is primarily indirect and that journalism educators should divert student attention from the negative aspects of advertising's role in the press. (RL)

Based on the criticism made by the Philadelphia newspaper "North American," this paper examines the passage of the anti-cartoon bill by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1903. The paper notes that the law served not to silence political criticism but to motivate vehement attacks by newspapers throughout the country on the law, on Samuel…

Since "New York Times Co. versus Sullivan," the amount of money spent on libel suits brought against the media, and the amount of money awarded to litigants, has skyrocketed. Most people who file such suits against the media are not seeking monetary damages, but only vindication for damage to their name and reputation. However, they may…

Established in the early 1970s to respond to complaints about and from the media, the four press councils in Canada (the Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Windsor Press Councils) have been accepted, but not overwhelmingly so by either newspapers or the public. The success and acceptability of the councils seems to be related to the kinds of complaints…

The legal problems faced by publishers of alternative newspapers are often compounded by the limited availability of the funds they have either for legal defense or for initiating lawsuits. Although both the courts and journalism's professional associations theoretically support the position that the alternative press possesses rights identical to…

To determine whether newspapers are equally responsive to threats to freedom of speech and to freedom of the press, the news and editorial coverage by ten daily newspapers of 40 United States Supreme Court decisions concerning free expression was analyzed. The 20 free-press and 20 free-speech cases were randomly selected from over 70…