War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power [Paperback]

Jeffery Alan Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 1999 | ISBN-10: 019509946X | ISBN-13: 978-0195099461

War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power is a groundbreaking and provocative study of one of the most perplexing civil liberties issues in American history: What authority does or should the government have to control press coverage and commentary in wartime? First Amendment scholar Jeffery A. Smith shows convincingly that no such extraordinary power exists under the Constitution, and that officials have had to rely on claiming the existence of an autocratic "higher law" of survival. Smith carefully surveys the development of statutory restrictions and military regulations for the news media from the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791 through the Gulf War of 1991. He concludes that the armed forces can justify refusal to divulge a narrow range of defense secrets, but that imposing other restrictions is unwise, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. In any event, as electronic communication becomes almost impossible to constrain, soldiers and journalists must learn how to respect each other's obligations in a democratic system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Smith] has put together an informed, detailed, and delightful analysis of the gradual erosion of a free press....Smith's strength in this volume is his relentless use of historical example to demonstrate a pervasive erosion of constitutional principle....[Smith] has amassed a powerful argument that concessions to national security lead to a withering of freedom and the emergence of an autocratic secretive' government."-- The Law and Politics Book Review

Praise for Jeffery A. Smith's Previous Books

FRANKLIN AND BACHE
Envisioning the Enlightened Republic
(OUP, 1990)

"[Smith is] a thoughtful and compelling writer....He provides insights into both men not found elsewhere. He makes a major contribution in portraying the Jeffersonian journalism of the Federalist period as more than mere namecalling."--Journalism Quarterly

PRINTERS AND PRESS FREEDOM
The Ideology of Early American Journalism
(OUP, 1988)

"A splendidly researched and persuasively argued historical review of the original intention of the First Amendment's promise of press freedom."--The New York Times Book Review

"This ambitious, audacious effort rethinks large chunks of American and English history in relation to eighteenth-century American newspapering and pamphleteering and presents the origins of First Amendment theory in a new light."--Journalism Quarterly

About the Author

Jeffery A. Smith is a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Iowa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019509946X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195099461
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History That Helps You Understand the Headlines, February 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power (Paperback)

Although published before the current war on terrorism, this book's historical overview of the relationship between media and the American government during times of war is strikingly relevant to today's headlines. Military tribunals for civilians? Abe Lincoln tried that in the Civil War. Another intriguing element is the discussion of how suppression of the atomic bomb's development -- by both the government and the media -- led to not only an ill-informed public, but an ill-informed president and may have impacted the final actions of World War II.
Filled with solid scholarly research, this book is still accessible to the lay reader and offers fascinating insight into our country's history. From the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War, it covers who, among journalists and politicians, took what actions in time of war; why they thought they were justified; and what impact these actions had on political, legal and military developments.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, June 27, 2003

By 

Dane S. Claussen "Dane S. Claussen, PhD, MBA" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power (Hardcover)

I first read this book when it was entered into a media history book competition for which I was a judge, before Sept. 11 and Afghanistan and Iraq. I was extremely impressed then. More recently, I have assigned my media history students (undergraduate and graduate students) to read it, and this fall, I am requiring graduate students in media law to read it. I'm not using this book so much because I'm too lazy to find or read another one; it's really that good. Nearly every sentence forces one to think about democracy, law, journalism, the nature of government, the role of the military, and the information needs of average citizens. It's not only for professors and journalism, history or law students. One of the best books I've ever read--no kidding.

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Poorly Written, September 23, 2011

By 

Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: War and Press Freedom: The Problem of Prerogative Power (Paperback)

While the content may be educational, I found this book to be extremely "foggy." The author jumps around from subject to subject and there are too many quotations from other sources. Rather than explaining things in his own words, it's more like a string of quotations separated by prose that makes little sense. Any student of writing would receive a failing grade for turning in something similar to this.