Access Denied: A History Of the Right to Information and Freedom of Speech in the United States of America

Yashasvi Sharma & Samantha MacIlwaine Senior Group Website

This year, for the topic Rights and Responsibilities, we chose to research on the Right to Information an !ree om of Speech" #ver the years, these topics have been gaining increase hea lines, first with $%&& an the passage of the 'S(

)(TRI#T (ct, then various inci ences of high level lea*s provi ing classifie information that showe various gaffes in (merican free speech policy, while

increasing the alrea y strenuous relationship between the press an the government" +oth Samantha an I, being ebaters, have long face this sub,ect" Thus, we thought about e-amining the history of free speech an government accountability, an

whether citi.ens of the 'nite States o have such a right to information" #ur preliminary research began while at school" There, we learne about the history of this topic/ from 0ohn Milton1s (eropagita to 0ohn Stuart Mill1s 2ibertarianism, then ove hea long into 34 th century (merican policy with Mc5arthy an the Re Scare, the 5ounterculture of the &$64s, an the 7ietnam War, the

)entagon )apers, an Watergate" !rom there, we utili.e various news articles from both spectrums of the political scale, in or er to gain an e8ual view of the issue of the right to information" In or er to gain more information, we both researche the 'nite States 9epartment of State, the !e eral :ews Service, the !ree om of Information (ssociation, the (merican 5ivil 2iberties 'nion, Supreme 5ourt rulings, an various news organi.ations" We chose to e-ploit the website category ue to the fact that it appeare to be the best me ium to provi e our information" (s the topics we iscusse often pertain to the cyber worl as well as reality, we thought of it to be appropriate to escribe these arguments using the internet" (lso, as we use various images an live

interview, such a multime ia e-perience coul only be foun through utili.ing the website category" The Right to Information an !ree om of Speech is a principal e-ample of rights an responsibilities" In encompasses of two strong si es/ 2ibertarians who believe that the government has a right to maintain free om of speech, as well as the right to information; an +ig Government a vocates, who believe that at times,

liberty has to ta*e a bac* seat for the sa*e of national security" (fter the September &&, 344& Terrorist (ttac*s, this ebate gaine even more importance as the 'nite States government tries to fin a mi le way to allow for the ma-imum amount of

national security with the least amount of civil liberties lost"