The Idea of a Free Press: The Enlightenment and Its Unruly LegacyNorthwestern University Press, 2006 M07 21 - 285 pages With the introduction of the printing press in England in 1476, a struggle over its control--and its potential for interrupting power--was joined. The written word, once the domain of the upper levels of society that controlled politics, economics, and religion, could be seen passing into the hands of anyone throughout the social strata who wished to voice opinions on any topic of interest or importance. How the advent of printing led to the idea of a free press is the story told by David Copeland in this book, which traces a confrontation that began with issues of religion and gradually expanded into the realm of political freedom. The rise of a free press was, in many ways, a legacy of the Reformation and Enlightenment. Copeland describes a discourse centered on questions of religion--a discussion that the government, with all its religious authority, could not suppress because of the belief that the ability to reason for oneself was God-given. In this account we see how the debate moved from religion to the purely political sphere, and how, through the increased use of the printing press, it was opened to a multiplicity of voices and opinions. Spanning nearly four centuries in Britain and America, Copeland's book reveals how the tension between government control and the right to debate public affairs openly ultimately led to the idea of a free press; in doing so, it documents an intellectual development of unparalleled relevance and importance to the history of journalism. |
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Andrew Bradford Anglican Areopagitica attacked Baptists believed Boston News-Letter Bradford British Britons Cambridge Cato Cato's Letters Charles church colonial America created discussion dissenters Early American eighteenth century English Enlightenment essays Franklin free and open free press French and Indian Frith God’s Governor Haller Henry ideas issues James John Frith John Lilburne John Locke John Milton John Peter Zenger jury king Levellers liberty of conscience licensing Locke London Massachusetts ment monarchy nation New-England Courant newsbooks newspapers newssheets nonconformists officials open press Oxford University Press pamphlets paper Parliament Philadelphia political Press Freedom Press in England printed word printers printing press public sphere published Puritan Revolution Quakers quoted religion religious reprint Restoration Newspaper scripture seditious libel sermons seventeenth century Siebert society Stamp Act Stamp Act crisis Star Chamber suppression Thomas tion Tracts on Liberty trial truth Virginia vols Whitefield William Haller William Walwyn writings wrote York