ABSTRACT
A "right to reply" means the right of access to the columns of a newspaper or magazine, the airtime of a broadcast station, or the envelopes of a private mailing to respond to a political attack against a person or institution. The US Supreme Court has held that there is no right to reply in the case of the print media but that there may be a limited right in the case of broadcasters because of the limited number of outlets. In 1974, the US Supreme Court struck down a Florida right-of-reply law that applied to newspapers. A candidate for the Florida House of Representatives who was criticized by editorials in the Miami Herald demanded that the Herald print his response verbatim. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the law, asserting that free speech was enhanced, not stifled, by a right to reply, and that the law furthered the "broad societal interest in the free flow of information to the public."
