Cite as: 523 U. S. 666 (1998)
Stevens, J., dissenting
were employees of government." 93 F. 3d, at 505. The Court implicitly acknowledges these facts by subjecting the decision to exclude Forbes to constitutional analysis. Yet the Court seriously underestimates the importance of the difference between private and public ownership of broadcast facilities, despite the fact that Congress and this Court have repeatedly recognized that difference.
In Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U. S. 94 (1973), the Court held that a licensee is neither a common carrier, id., at 107-109, nor a public forum that must accommodate " 'the right of every individual to speak, write, or publish,' " id., at 101 (quoting Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U. S. 367, 388 (1969)). Speaking for a plurality, Chief Justice Burger expressed the opinion that the First Amendment imposes no constraint on the private network's journalistic freedom. He supported that view by noting that when Congress confronted the advent of radio in the 1920's, it "was faced with a fundamental choice between total Government ownership and control of the new medium—the choice of most other countries—or some other alternative." 412 U. S., at 116.7
7 Interestingly, many countries that formerly relied upon state control of broadcast entities appear to be moving in the direction of deregulation and private ownership of such entities. See, e. g., Bughin & Griekspoor, A New Era for European TV, 3 McKinsey Q. 90, 92-93 (1997) ("Most of Western Europe's public television broadcasters began to lose their grip on the market in the mid-1980s. Only Switzerland, Austria, and Ireland continue to operate state television monopolies . . . . In Europe as a whole (including Eastern Europe, where television remains largely state controlled), the number of private broadcasters holding market-leading positions nearly doubled in the first half of this decade"); Rohwedder, Central Europe's Broadcasters Square Off, Wall Street Journal Europe 4 (May 15, 1995) ("Central Europe's government-run television channels, unchallenged media masters in the days of communist control, are coming under increasingly aggressive attack from upstart private broadcasters"); Lange & Woldt, European Interest in the American Experience in Self-Regulation, 13 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L. J. 657, 658 (1995) ("Over the
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