Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2026

Abstract

As American institutions wither and die, those who believe in their importance must reflect and rebuild. One institution worthy of sustained attention is the free press. Divorced from government by design, the press can benefit from efforts to reinvigorate and reinvent it in ways that institutions more directly under the federal government’s thumb cannot. To best undertake these efforts, we need a richer understanding of why a free press is vital. Articulating the values that underlie the need for this institution is necessary not only to build the most robust free press, but also to best exercise our freedoms as Americans.

The conventional wisdom about why the United States needs a free press has remained stagnant for a quarter-millennium: the press is a bulwark of democracy. Perhaps because democracy is such a fundamental national value, press advocates have failed to look beyond it. We have failed to see that democracy does not exist in isolation. Rather, it operates in concert with other values, and its strength rises and falls along with them. The press can be a bulwark of an array of democracy-aligned values. A key one of these is human dignity.

The press promotes human dignity foremost by serving as a generator and distributor of information. But more specifically, it advances dignity through editorial practices that prioritize fairness, accountability, and recognition of fellow humans. It also promotes dignity by producing news about those who might otherwise be overlooked.

In trying to create a formidable free press, it is important to consider precisely how the press advances dignity and how it can do so better. In expanding our understanding of the press’s benefits (actual and potential), we better ensure a future in which the press—a key creator of community narratives, social meaning, and publics—upholds collective values.

Publication Citation

58 Conn. L. Rev. 971

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