"In the 19th century ... even the humblest printer became a gazetteer. But industrial development and the rise of the mass media put an end to the proliferation of papers for every viewpoint. Because of the large amount of capital required to put out a newspaper, the press became concentrated in the hands of big business. Diversity of opinion was placed in jeopardy. Freedom of the press ultimately came to depend on an increasingly restricted ability to publish or be published. As in old authoritarian days, the definition of truth once again risked becoming the prerogative of a few, now the few who had the power of money. It was to ward off this danger that the notion of social responsibility of the media was born."
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Original Language: English
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Kent Commission (1981), as cited in The Constitutional Protection of Freedom of Expression (2000), p. 286
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press
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Freedom of the press
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