「新聞自由」的概念可上溯至十七世紀西方國家，今日則儼然業已具有普世價值，在台灣亦已取得崇隆地位，被認為是可與行政、立法與司法等三權並立的「第四權」，常被媒體援引為應享特權的依據。然而新聞自由究竟是什麼？檢視台灣學界相關論述，其定義似遠不及其被宣稱的重要程度。新聞自由的哲理與內涵究竟為何？是否真為普世標準？若想找出解答，就須對此概念深入分析。本文探討新聞自由的發展歷史及主要思想家如彌爾頓等先哲的主張與當代學者Stewart 等人的詮釋，藉此瞭解新聞自由的內涵與缺失。本文首先回顧新聞自由概念之哲理與內涵，探討其是否為新聞媒體的專屬價值，從而檢視台灣對此一概念如何臨摹，最後提出跳脫自由主義的反思之道。

The concept of freedom of the press was originally proposed in the seventeenth century and seems to have become one of the most important universal values. In order to provide a profound answer to what is “freedom of the press,” this essay tries to study the history of the concept as well as the development of related thoughts, including John Milton’s proposition in the seventeenth century and Potter Stewart’s theory in the twentieth century; moreover, scholars’ research on the concept in Taiwan is inspected. Further study is suggested to analyze the philosophical foundation of “freedom of the press”.