Reclaiming the First Amendment:
A Conference on Constitutional Theories of Media Reform

January 19, 2007
Hofstra University School of Law

Click Here for Conference Agenda (PDF File)

In a pathbreaking article in the Harvard Law Review, "Access to the Press - A New First Amendment Right," Professor Jerome Barron argued that the interests of a robust marketplace of ideas required First Amendment analysis to focus on the rights of speakers to be heard, rather than on the rights of media owners to control the content they disseminated.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the article, Hofstra Law School, along with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is hosting a conference on January 19, 2007, entitled Reclaiming the First Amendment: A Conference on Constitutional Theories of Media Reform.

Conference co-director, Professor Eric M. Freedman, the Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, comments, "This conference comes at a critical time. Although First Amendment theories of access, like First Amendment arguments for government regulation of the mass media to ensure a diversity of viewpoints, have had a mixed reception in the courts, there is growing concern today that consolidated media ownership presents a serious challenge to democracy. The country urgently needs sustained analysis of the issues so that we can be assured that old principles will remain vibrant under new conditions."

The major papers from the conference will be published in a symposium issue of the Hofstra Law Review, and a distinguished group of speakers has agreed to participate.

For further information, contact:

Professor Eric M. Freedman, Hofstra Law School, LAWEMF@Hofstra.edu, tel. (516) 463-5167 or
Marjorie Heins, Brennan Center for Justice, Marjorie.Heins@NYU.edu, tel. (212) 992-8847