英国早期出版专制和清教徒的抗争

研究新闻出版自由的历史,英国是最丰富、最完整的案例。到19世纪,随着君主立宪制度在英国的稳固,民主法治和言论出版自由得到确立,以至于英国已被马克思夫人燕妮赞誉为出版自由的圣地。但是历史拒绝遗忘。曾几何时,英国的专制统治者曾经设计出那么多有效的钳制言论和出版自由的花招和机制。经过包括清教徒在内的无数仁人志士的几百年努力,这些出版自由的拦路虎历经多年被逐一搬移。本文所探究的就是这种早期抗争中的一段出版专制和反专制的斗争史。

On the Early British Press Dictatorship and the Puritan's Struggles

If one studies the history of world press freedom,Britain is the best and abundant case.By mid-18 century,with the consolidation of constitutional monarchy,a system of democracy and rule by law was so well established that Jenny,Marx's wife,called Britain a sacred place of the press.However,we should not forget a miserable history in the same country,and in the times of absolute monarchy,British rulers had developed so many effective tricks and mechanisms to suppress speech and the press.These obstacles had...