or of the Press

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.

Reporters without Borders is a non-profit NGO that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press.  Every year they publish the Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking of countries  based upon the organization's assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.

The United States

While the US has been consistently exceeded by the Nordic and Low Countries in freedom of the press rankings, we were 17th in 2002, this year we have fallen to 46th.  This puts us behind countries such as Romania, South Africa, Slovenia, Uruguay, and Namibia.  Makes you proud, don't it?

Countries that pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it. Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices.