Corporate Nonfinancial Disclosure: Preserving the Right to Know in an Organization Society

• Published in: American business law journal Vol. 19; no. 4; p. 440
• Main Author: Richards, Eric L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, Ohio Academy of Legal Studies in Business 01.01.1982
• Subjects: Advertisements; Advertising; Corporate; Court decisions; Disclosure; First Amendment-US; Freedom of speech; Right to know
• ISSN: 0002-7766; 1744-1714

Analysis of several first amendment cases shows that corporate speech is grounded on the right to know. While the law in this area is not settled, some trends do seem to be emerging. Under the notion of the right to know, it is argued that regulation of corporate speech should not encompass outright prohibitions of expression, but in order to preserve the integrity of the public policy process it may be possible to require more nonfinancial disclosure on the part of corporations. Some observers have indicated that disclosure could be used to eliminate most of the social and economic ills associated with the activities of large, publicly-held corporations. Cantor v. Detroit Edison (1976) has furnished a model for this kind of reform. Or it may be possible to require that some speakers actually subsidize opposing perspectives, as was originally requested in Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Service Co. (1980). The broader disclosure of nonfinancial data and subsidization of alternate viewpoints by corporate speakers should be the reform attempts of the future. These approaches will protect the integrity of the decisionmaking processes while expanding rather than contracting the marketplace of ideas. As a result, they will be crucial complements to the right to know.