Tialena Evans

First Amendment Statement

Mass Communication Professional Development Seminar
23 March 2021

First Amendment Statement

This First Amendment is one of the most popular and most recited amendments in the U.S.
Constitution. It states that:

 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances''
(Egemenoglu).

This guarantees people's freedoms concerning religion, assembly, expression, and the right to
petition. It also forbids Congress from both restricting individuals' religious practices and also
promoting one religion over another. It guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peacefully
and to petition their government while also guaranteeing the freedom of expression by
prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of an individual to speak freely
(Egemenoglu). It was adopted into the Bill of Rights in 1791, with the Supreme Court
interpreting the extent of the protection afforded to these rights (Egemenoglu).

A common misconception that people have about the first amendment is that it protects you from
any and everything that you desire to say or do. That is far from the case. It only protects you
from government punishment, censorship or oppression of your freedom of speech, assembly,
religion, press. It doesn’t apply to private organizations and companies. Private platforms and
companies have the right to ban or punish you from disobeying their guidelines put in place.
Although it’s unconstitutional for the platforms to outright ban certain types of protected speech,
it does raise questions around the issue of freedom (Williangham). In order to abide by the first
amendment was also abide by the laws and regulations that private platforms and companies
have put in place. If a company prohibits their employers from wearing clothing regarding social
or civil rights messages, then employees must obey those regulations. Another big example is if
social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook prohibit their users from specific speech,
then users cannot file a suit against them claiming first amendment rights violations. Hand,
freedom of speech doesn’t protect our speech towards other individuals. Defamation, what is the
act of damaging the reputation of someone; slander or libel. If you spread false and slanderous
things about someone which, in turn damages their reputation, you can be sued by that party for
libel. 

One of the freedoms listed under the first amendment is the freedom of press, which applies to
journalists and the news media heavily. The US Constitution guarantees a free press, which can
be extrapolated to include all news media such as TV, radio, the web, etc. This means the
government does not have the right to try to control or block certain things from being published
by the press (Peters). Prior restraint is another term used in this context, which is the attempt by
the government to prevent the expression of ideas before they are published. 
As a student I have used the first amendment to produce press that I have published under my
name. I know that my speech and press is protected under the first amendment whether it is
agreed by or liked by others. Articles that I have published online may be controversial or may
not appease certain audiences, but they are my words and they are protected. I have not stated
any defamatory or libelous claims against anyone or another third-party. As an aspiring journalist
I will continue to use the cloak of the first amendment to protect me in my ideas. 

Bibliography
Egemenoglu, E. (2020, March). First Amendment. Retrieved from
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment
Peters, J. (208, August 05). What does the First amendment mean to the press? Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-amendment-2073720
Williangham, A. (2018, September 06). The First Amendment doesn't guarantee you the rights
you think it does. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/27/politics/first-amendment-
explainer-trnd/index.html