The Media Institute has made available “Honoring James Madison’s First Amendment Legacy,” an essay adapted from Stuart Brotman’s remarks at delivered at a Media Institute Communications Forum luncheon in Washington, D.C. Brotman is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at The Media Institute, where he also serves on the Institute’s First Amendment Advisory Council and as an adviser to The Madison Project.
From the document:
The 45 words Madison wrote for the First Amendment were precise and elegant expressions of five essential freedoms. “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.”
Unfortunately, James Madison would be dismayed if he were with us today. There now are sophisticated ways to measure how people perceive the First Amendment and its notions of free press and free speech. It’s worthwhile to review the results of several recent national surveys for a flavor of how Americans envision the First Amendment in contemporary times.
The Madison Project: Free Speech and Press in American Democracy is a timely and much-needed assessment of the impact of free speech and press on the future of democracy, at a time when democracy itself has come perilously close to the brink in America. The Madison Project will offer distinctive insights, assess challenges and threats to free speech and free press, and chart a course forward to maintain these essential freedoms as the bulwark of our democracy.
The Media Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment.