A Word From The Publisher

This week we are very happy to announce the local winner of the New York Press Association's First Amendment contest, Garden City High School junior Amanda Gogh.

Amanda's essay discusses the ways in which the first amendment applies in an internet world, which we think is a compelling discussion.

When the first amendment was penned, wealthy men could afford to have their thoughts printed and distributed via pamphlets. Now for a nominal sum, people can create their own web site and reach the whole world. Even without a web site, there are forums on any topic imaginable in which people can speak up. What on earth would the founding fathers have thought about that?

At the end of her essay, Amanda alludes to the fact that in some parts of the world governments try to censor the internet. However, even in China, enterprising young people have found ways around the censors.

Some have said that one of the things that brought down the former Soviet Union was that its people had greater and greater access to the outside world, and liked what they saw. If freedom of speech is the foundation of democracy, then ultimately the world is heading in the right direction in a large part due to the growth of the internet.

Meg Morgan Norris Publisher