在美利坚合众国创建之初,报纸在社会中的批评角色这一问题,就开始引起注意。在美国早期思想家中,对报纸的批评监督作用认识最清晰的,莫过于詹姆斯·麦迪逊和托马斯·杰佛逊。宪法修正案起草人麦迪逊指出,美国的报纸之所以比英国的报纸享有更多自由,是因为在一个人民负有全部责任的政体中,这是最根本的:报纸帮助人民检查行政和立法部门的鲁莽轻率及不称职行为。托马斯·杰佛逊被许多历史学家称作“捍卫出版自由的斗士”。作为政治家,他饱受报纸攻击之苦,但仍然坚持不懈地为报纸批评进行辩护。他深信,报纸将通过在舆论讲坛上谴责公共官员而成为令他们生畏的监察官。难怪美国的新闻百科全书说,对自由的报纸来说,最重要的是通过对政府 At the dawn of the founding of the United States of America, the issue of the critical role of the newspaper in society began to attract attention. Among the early American thinkers, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were the clearest of critics of the newspaper. Madison, the drafters of the constitutional amendment, pointed out that the reason why American newspapers enjoy more freedom than British newspapers is that they are the most fundamental of the systems in which the people have the full responsibility: the newspapers help people examine the administrative and legislative branches Recklessness and incompetence. Thomas Jefferson has been referred by many historians as “the champion who defends freedom of the press.” As a politician, he suffered from newspaper attacks, but he persisted in defending newspaper criticism. He was convinced that the newspaper would become the dread of Ombudsman by condemning public officials in the media forum. No wonder the United States News Encyclopedia said that for free newspapers, the most important thing is through the government