ABSTRACT
The idea of a free press is another ideal moral abstraction. As such, freedom of the press is subject to all the same ambiguities and qualifications as discussions of freedom generally. This does not mean that the concept of a free press is meaningless, rather only that the idea must be carefully characterized and precisely defined within the circumscribed limits to which it applies if we are to avoid misrepresenting the concept and drawing false inferences from it. The philosophical task for this chapter is thus primarily one of conceptual clarification.
