This paper focuses on the discourses on freedom of press surrounding the decision to suspend publication of"Little Black Sambo." All the publishing companies in Japan that had been publishing this book decided to stop publication at the end of 1988, citing that the book is based on prejudice against black people. There were numerous arguments about this incident, and freedom of speech or press were sometimes mentioned, but it was rarely discussed at length. This is because the theory of freedom of speech or expression is traditionally discussed only in terms of regulation by authority. However, if we take a look at some incidents of late that have been discussed in terms of freedom of press, it is apparent that they are not so much concerned about the relations between authority and the press, but more about relations between individuals, or between society and individuals. In face of these trends surrounding the marketplace of speech, we have to make a turn in our discussion to adapt the theory of freedom of press to the present situation. In order to discuss incidents concerning freedom of press between individuals, the framework of the analysis of freedom of press should be shifted from'Authority-Individuals'to'Authority-Society-Individuals'. This deviates from the Hutchins Commission's framework, Authority-Mass Media-Individuals(or society)'. In theory, the marketplace of speech, free from government regulation, is considered a place where public affairs of a society are discussed, and through such discussion, an agreement is supposed to be reached naturally. However, if we observe the discourses concerning"Little Black Sambo"in Japan since the end of 1988, the function of the marketplace is viewed differently. Each society's marketplace has its own history in which a certain amount of agreement is taken for granted before a speech or publication comes out in a free marketplace of speech. Therefore, the fact that a speech is in a marketplace means that the speech is authorized. The existence and non-existence of speech are taken as a representation of the implicit ethical rules on which a society is based. This is why some people require certain types of expression to be suppressed. If we try to examine freedom of speech in our present society, we have to examine when the implicit ethical rules are in agreement with the theory of freedom speech and at which points they collide. In analyzing discourses in line with the method called"discourse analysis, "it is clear that the value of freedom of speech is diminishing in our society, and this may be paralleled to the phenomena which Hannah Arendt termed a rise of'realm of society'after the disappearance of the distinction between public and private realms.