UPDATED I’m at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, where people from around the U.S. (and in a few cases, from other nations) are talking for three days about how to change American media. Some talented folks are here. But the activist conference is also notable for what it’s lacking: any serious participation […]
Posts under ‘Free Speech’
When Broadcasts are Suitable Only for Children
NY Times: Saturday Night Live – Special Treat in a Box. Given the subject matter, it was little surprise that NBC bleeped a recurring word in the chorus 16 times. But soon after the broadcast concluded at 1 a.m. Sunday, viewers who’d seen the bit on TV (and others who had just heard about it) […]
Guest Posting: Feds Should Stop Fake Video News
Earlier this week I posted this piece about video news releases (VNRs) and their undisclosed use by TV “news” programs. I loathe the practice, but worry more about the negative consequences of federal intervention, which some favor, than the good it might do. Diane Farsetta, senior researcher at the Center for Media and Democracy, one […]
Would-Be Next President Wants "Re-examination" of Free Speech
Manchester (NH) Union Leader: Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand up for freedom of speech. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism. Gingrich is voicing what all too many Americans believe, that free speech […]
So Now Murdoch Cares About Doing the Right Thing?
NY Times: ‘Ill-considered’ book, interview called off after fierce criticism. Bowing to intense pressure both outside and inside the company, the News Corp. on Monday canceled its plans to publish a book and broadcast an interview with O.J. Simpson in which he was to give a hypothetical account of how he might have murdered his […]
Major Court Decision Protects Online Speech
UPDATED SF Chronicle: ISP not responsible for online libel, state’s top court rules. People who claim they were libeled on line can’t sue the Internet service providers that carried the messages, the California Supreme Court ruled today. The unanimous ruling reversed an October 2003 decision by a state appellate court in San Francisco that would […]
Manipulating Search Engines for Political Advantage
NY Times: A New Campaign Tactic: Manipulating Google Data. If things go as planned for liberal bloggers in the next few weeks, searching Google for “Jon Kyl,” the Republican senator from Arizona now running for re-election, will produce high among the returns a link to an April 13 article from The Phoenix New Times, an […]
Our Best Values Include Speech
Bob Cox, in ‘The best test of truth’, makes the case that free speech, one of America’s core values, should be one of our chief cultural exports in an often hostile world. It’s an eloquent essay. He makes one small error, though, when he says the right to free speech “does not extend to shouting […]
Department of Not Getting It
In an item on Poynter Online about the likely dismissal of a libel lawsuit against a website where a commenter posted allegedly libelous material, a staffer from the San Diego Union Tribune is quoted thusly: While protection to ferret out the truth is nice, I kind of wish the courts or Congress would revisit this […]
Derailing Common Sense
AP: Some CBS Affiliates Worry over 9/11 Show. Broadcasters say the hesitancy of some CBS affiliates to air a powerful Sept. 11 documentary next week proves there’s been a chilling effect on the First Amendment since federal regulators boosted penalties for television obscenities after Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed at a Super Bowl halftime show. […]