First and Essential Freedom, The

• 1974 ----- color ----- 52 min ----- 16mm/vhs
• Examines the right to know, the right to communicate, as well as the roles of the news media, the government and the public under the First Amendment. Against the background of the clash between the media and the government in the Watergate Affair, the film deals in depth with such important topics as prior restraint, or censorship, and the controversy surrounding the publication of the Pentagon Papers. It also examines the right of access to news and the effects to that access which might arise should proposed revision of the Federal Criminal Code become law. Concludes with an historical review of the relationship between the government and the media.
• Topics: (Communications, Law, Political Science: American)