Because freedom of the press is vital for the proper function of a democracy, some argue, the news media must be held to a different standard than the suppliers of other goods and services. Although a free press is integral to the democratic process, attempting to justify it on this basis, rather than grounding it on individual rights, invites slippery-slope “market failure” and “public-good” arguments for its curtailment.
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Karen Horn is the incoming head of the Berlin office of the Institute for the German Economy. She has been economics editor for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (until May 2007).
