近年来,新闻涉及“官司”的事越来越多,一些记者和报刊成了法庭上的“被告”。社会上对此议论纷纷,新闻界自己也感到了前所未有的困惑。法律如何保障新闻自由?新闻工作如何按照法律行事?这是新形势向新闻界和司法界提出的新问题,也是在建设社会主义民主政治的过程中需要解决的重要课题。为此,本刊记者专门走访了最高人民法院权威人士。最高人民法院对此极为重视,由新闻发言人周道鸾(最高人民法院审判委员会委员、办公厅主任)主持,召开了各有关部门负责人参加的座谈会,回答了记者的提问。现将座谈内容整理如下: In recent years, there have been more and more news reports on “lawsuits,” and some reporters and newspapers have become “defendants” in court. There are many discussions in the community about this. The media themselves have felt the unprecedented confusion. How does the law protect the freedom of the press? How does the press work according to the law? This is a new issue put forward by the new situation to the press and the judiciary and also an important issue to be solved in the process of building socialist democratic politics. To this end, correspondents specifically visited the Supreme People’s Court authorities. The Supreme People’s Court attached great importance to this and presided over by spokesman Zhou Daoxing (member of the Supreme People’s Court Judicial Committee and head of the General Office) held a symposium attended by heads of relevant departments and answered questions raised by reporters. The discussion is now organized as follows: