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The First Amendment and the doctrine of corporate personhood

Collapsing the press–corporation distinction

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Johnston 124, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA. dsallen{at}uwm.edu

This article traces the development of the American idea that corporations are people and entitled to constitutional rights – commonly referred to as corporate personhood – and what that development means for the press and democratic life. In the opinion of many US Supreme Court justices, the press is entitled to special constitutional privileges because of the unique role it plays in democracy. The Court has also endowed corporations with many of those same rights, in part to serve as a check on the corporate press. With the growing corporate ownership of American media, the Court has struggled to find clear reasons for how the press is different from corporations. It is argued that by collapsing the press–corporation distinction, the Court is creating an avenue for corporate values to dominate the public sphere.

Key Words: corporate personhood • discourse democracy • First Amendment • media ownership • public sphere

Journalism, Vol. 2, No. 3, 255-278 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/146488490100200303


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