“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both.”

James Madison – 4th president of the United States

Freedom to Speak and Listen:

The health of any social group is largely a function of its patterns of communication. The central focus of family therapy, for example, is generally on how people give and receive messages. If people are free to speak, and capable of listening, most problems can be sorted out. The same thing is true whatever the size of the group.

The First Amendment:

If democratic forms of government are to work, the free interchange of ideas and information must be rigorously protected. People must be free to speak their minds. In the United States this right is protected by the first amendment. If freedom of speech is only the right to express opinions that are generally supported in a society, the concept is meaningless. The whole point of the concept is that we should protect the expression of unpopular and minority opinions.

Media Control:

In democratically organized societies, the opinions and perspectives of all groups must not only be permitted, but they must find expression in the mass media. On national and global levels it is in the mass media where, at least ideally, we speak and listen to each other. In his article "Media Control" Marco Weeks highlights some of the reasons that important perspectives and information do not always get communicated by means of the media.