Three First Amendment Scenarios

Certainly, many have touched upon the application of first­amendment principles to the electronic media, but very few have offered proposals to mediate or eliminate differences in protection of speech based on the medium of communication. What is striking about the few studies is the failure to focus on the Orwellian­Huxleyan dichotomy and the absence of what could be a rich cross­fertilization between constitutional jurisprudence, on the one hand, and thoughts on the technological attributes and commercial uses of television on the other. Metaphorically, the few who have confronted aspects of these issues­­like first­amendment theorists generally­­have driven into the future with eyes focused on the rear­view mirror.

Presently, we can identify three prototypical first­amendment scenarios pertaining to the divergence between the old and new media. In shorthand, these schema may conveniently be titled the classical (abolitionist), modern (libertarian), and reformist (regulatory) scenarios. In various ways, each scenario is tied to a typographic mindset that biases its vision of the first­ amendment's role in our society. Ultimately, we find all scenarios to be myopic­­though each contains fragments of great value, none fully gleans the paradox of the first amendment in the age of paratroopers. The presentation of these scenarios follows immediately. Part IV critiques these scenarios from the Orwellian­Huxleyan vantage point developed in Part I.