Reporters and a Free Press

A necessary condition for news to be produced under conditions of ‘negative’ freedom is for newspapers to become ‘reporter codetermined newspapers’, where reporters, along with editors and publishers, have a collective ‘positive’ freedom to vote on news‐policy, select editors and hire reporters. ‘Publisher‐controlled’ newspapers systematically prevent reporters from reporting some news‐stories and coerce and manipulate reporters into reporting others. It is argued here that all newspapers should be legally required to become reporter codetermined newspapers. This change is also required by Rawls’ and Mill's arguments for freedom of the press. On the basis of empirical data it is unlikely that the demands of freedom or justice can be met within existing institutional structures.