How Snowden Changed the Law
The movie Edward Snowden is a great example of U.S. media laws and the protections given to us by the Constitution. The First Amendment gives US Citizens and the Press protections. The First Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (UMUC, n.d.).
In the movie Snowden, the press gives the public groundbreaking news on its own government at great cost to themselves. However, this isn’t the only time the media has made us aware of government issues at the potential cost to themselves.
Dating back to the thirteenth century, the king of England made it a crime to “to communicate libelous or seditious ideas” against the government or the crown (UMUC, n.d.). To break this law, would be punishable by death (UMUC, n.d.). We have since come a long way with our freedom of speech and expression but many who uncover government secrets are still exposed to legal backlash.
“In 1917, on the heels of World War I, Congress, in cooperation with President Wilson, enacted the Espionage Act, which made it a federal crime to publish anything that attempted to cause insubordination, disloyalty…
