Fredrick Siebert's Absolute,Adjustable First Amendment

Fredrick Siebert is known for his analysis of the role of "stresses" in shaping freedom of expression. How flexible did he think First Amendment rights should be? His career and writings are examined to identify his positions and to understand how they may have been formed. Siebert believed that the founders were absolutists on government restraints, and he questioned subsequent efforts to define liberties in other ways. Like a scholar who influenced his career, Willard Bleyer, Siebert was a prominent journalism educator who could be a critic of the media. While Bleyer complained about communication monopolies and called for self-regulation, Siebert generally took a libertarian approach. He wanted protection for the business interests of the press and few, if any, government restrictions on content.