Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States, recognized that principle before either the constitution or the bill of rights in 1786 when he wrote “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of press, not that be limited without danger of losing it.” It is precisely when the free press is telling us what we don’t want to hear, when it’s challenging government officials, exposing government misconduct and refusing to be the unofficial mouthpiece of any government agency, that the press stands most in need of peoples’ protection.

The form of media that we commonly refer to as the "news," disseminates information with the primary goal of informing the citizenry and, thereby, the democracy. This is in contrast to the political / entertainment media which diffuses information with the primary goal of generating profit, money and/or political power, regardless of its impact on democracy.
Because media, generally, has no citizenship (media is not human), no form of media has an inalienable right to freedom of speech. However, as part of its information-providing role and in order to fulfill its vital mission, the news media must be free to report its observations that are facts regardless of the potential outcomes. In other words, media has an inherent duty to observe, investigate and report to the public about government and political process, and must, therefore, be able to report those observations free of infringements by government or any other force, including and most especially corporations. This freedom of speech protection must extend to those areas of the "news" that involve analysis and overview, though the media in these latter cases, must also achieve balance of perspective, especially where political views and citizen discourse and decision-making are concerned. The Official Information Act of 1982 is an important tool for journalists. This act allows all official information – including cabinet papers and officials’ advice to ministers – to be made available upon request unless there is good reason for withholding it. Many journalists have complained that officials and ministers use a range of methods to delay or refuse such releases of information. Nonetheless, many political news stories are based on information released under the Official Information Act.