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Category Archives: Free Speech

Defending Free Speech With a 'Panic Button' – Video

Posted: October 31, 2013 at 3:40 pm


Defending Free Speech With a #39;Panic Button #39;
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Defending Free Speech With a 'Panic Button' - Video

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Free speech under attack in Sri Lanka, activists warn – Video

Posted: October 28, 2013 at 11:40 pm


Free speech under attack in Sri Lanka, activists warn

By: Mynews

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Editorial – Oct. 27, 2013: Celebrating the role of newspapers in protecting free speech

Posted: at 11:40 pm

Where would we be as a nation without the freedom of speech?

After all, according to the annual State of the First Amendment survey, it is by far Americas favorite freedom and our most important right. In that survey, 47 percent voted for free speech, compared to 10 percent for the next closest right, freedom of religion. It is only appropriate that we dedicate a week to celebrating free speech.

The freedom to express ourselves and speak our minds is an inextricable part of a strong democracy. When you have a government directed by its citizens, it is critical that those citizens be engaged and informed. Indeed, our founding fathers recognized the critical need for the free flow of information.

It is equally important that citizens have the freedom and the avenue to challenge the government and its representatives, discuss key issues, and be absolutely assured that their voices are heard.

Newspapers provide that avenue and self-expression through guest opinion pieces and letters to the editor. We recognize the importance of publishing a diversity of viewpoints, as we only grow as a country and effectively address difficult issues if a variety of expertise, facts, and opinions are shared.

Today, social media has been heralded as one of the greatest platforms for free speech and self-expression. Anyone can post whatever they want at their convenience, and it lives online for the whole world to see.

But when it comes to important matters, where citizens want to make sure that their thoughts and expertise are considered by the public and leaders alike, newspapers provide the platform to reach their community and influence their leaders.

We see this again and again, most recently when Vladimir Putin and John McCain spoke directly to Americans and Russians by going straight to newspapers. As they demonstrated, its an effective strategy to capture attention and state your position whether you are a global leader or a small-town worker.

Years ago, newspapers were the only reliable way to disseminate information to a wide audience. Thanks to the Internet, our society has become inundated with information from many sources. The Internet plays a critical role in the delivery of newspaper media and newspapers remain the trusted source in communities, large or small, that cut through the clutter with the news that you need to know.

Newspapers remain the reliable way to reach the American public. Our circulation revenue is up and our readership is growing, because today, more than ever, people need a news source they can trust.

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Editorial - Oct. 27, 2013: Celebrating the role of newspapers in protecting free speech

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‘Descended into darkness’: Speaker details sometimes ugly history of free speech

Posted: October 27, 2013 at 11:40 am

History buffs may be surprised to learn that 79 Montanans were convicted of sedition during World War I.

In an unusual act of forgiveness, on May 3, 2006, former Gov. Brian Schweitzer pardoned 78 of the convicted in a cere-mony attended by 50 of their descendants. Gov. Joseph Dixon had already pardoned one other in the 1920s.

It just surprised the heck out of me that people were sent to prison in Montana on free speech issues, said Clem Work, a retired University of Montana journalismprofessor.

Work, the author of Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West, spoke for 15 history hounds at the Butte-Silver Bow Archives on Wednesday. Montana arrested, convicted and imprisoned more people for violating sedition laws in 1918 and 1919 than any other state, he said.

Work calls sedition the illegal promotion of resistance against the government, usually in speech or writing. But the ultimate definition was up to the government.

It had a tremendous impact across this country and on the state of Montana, said Ellen Crain, director of the Archives. She noted that Schweitzers blanket pardons came after Works book was published in 2005. Its an incredibly important book.

To the surprise of many in the audience, Work told stories of ordinary folks like Janet Smith and her husband, William K. Smith, who were probably targeted by authorities in Custer County because they owned enviable livestock and land, Work said. She was demonized by the county prosecutor.

Smith was the only Montana woman convicted and sent to prison for sedition. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Deer Lodge and given a $5,000 fine, and he was sentenced to 20 years and a $20,000 fine. They were forced to forfeit their land to pay the fines.

Varying degrees of dissent clustered in pockets primarily in a few wide-spread counties: Lewis and Clark, Custer County and Fergus County.

Many ordinary citizens were arrested, mostly for speaking out against the United States entry into World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

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‘Descended into darkness’: Speaker details sometimes ugly history of free speech

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Juan Williams on Firing from NPR, 'Muzzled,' and Threats Posed to Free Speech – Video

Posted: October 26, 2013 at 7:40 pm


Juan Williams on Firing from NPR, #39;Muzzled, #39; and Threats Posed to Free Speech
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Juan Williams on Firing from NPR, 'Muzzled,' and Threats Posed to Free Speech - Video

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Online Hate and Free Speech: Where Do We Draw the Line? – Video

Posted: at 7:40 pm


Online Hate and Free Speech: Where Do We Draw the Line?
The rapid growth of the Internet has sparked robust debate about the boundaries of free speech. Racists, cyberbullies, terrorists and hate-mongers use the Internet to recruit and incite. Should...

By: Newseum

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Online Hate and Free Speech: Where Do We Draw the Line? - Video

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Free Speech Week — Thursday

Posted: October 25, 2013 at 12:41 pm

This is the fourth day of Free Speech Week, during which we will be celebrating freedom of speech by posting highlights from Catos recent work to support freedom of speech in its various forms, whether through legal advocacy, media appearances, or other public outreach.

Today we will take a look at the threat to free speech posed by the IRSs power over non-profit groups. As many will remember, Tea Party and small government advocacy groups were specifically targeted for harassment, audits, and delays when seeking IRS approval to operate as 501(c)(4) non-profit groups. This was one the bigger scandals of the several to hit the Obama administration in the last year or two, and for good reason. The use of executive agencies to harass and silence political enemies presents a threat to the freedom of political speech and is a smack in the face of the concept of representative government.

This kind of abuse of the IRSs power isnt really anything new, however, as the following Cato Institute video explains:

For more on the IRS scandal, check out the briefing below, featuring Catos Trevor Burrus and John Samples:

For more information on Free Speech Week and to learn how you can help celebrate free speech, check out http://www.FreeSpeechWeek.org.

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Free Speech Week — Thursday

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Providence admits to violating a woman's right to free speech – Video

Posted: October 24, 2013 at 12:40 am


Providence admits to violating a woman #39;s right to free speech
Providence gave about five hundred dollars to a woman whose right to free speech was violated after police removed her while she was on the street criticizing Cicilline.

By: WPRI

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Providence admits to violating a woman's right to free speech - Video

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Vet’s constitution won’t allow restriction of free speech

Posted: at 12:40 am

By Debra J. Saunders

San Francisco Chronicle

Published: October 24, 2013

Army veteran Robert Van Tuinen decided to celebrate U.S. Constitution Day on Sept. 17 by handing out copies of the Constitution at Modesto Junior College in California, where he is a student. If he had been at the University or California, Berkeley, or another politically correct campus, some liberal students probably would have picked an argument with him, maybe even accused him of hate speech.

But as this was Modesto Junior College, Van Tuinen didnt attract a lot of notice. Until, that is, a security guard told Van Tuinen that he couldnt hand out the Constitution. Or the Communist Manifesto, for that matter. On an edited video, Van Tuinen captured the guard explaining that passing out anything whatsoever, you have to have permission through the student development office.

An administrative aide at that office explained the schools policies for time-place-and-manner free-speech area. Students have to sign up in a binder to use a small designated space, and since two students already were protesting, Van Tuinen would have to wait his turn to speak freely and pass out literature. When Van Tuinen told her he just wanted to pass out copies of the Constitution, she asked, Umm, why?

Van Tuinen was appalled. When he served in Kuwait, he learned that the military doesnt put a high premium on free speech. Soldiers dont have the same rights as students, and the brass had little interest in his pontificating on the framers intent. Thats when I figured out the service wasnt the best place for me, he confided. But who knew that college life would be equally casual about stifling his self-expression?

Yes, Virginia, there is a California college campus where protest is not a major.

Let me confess. In this job, Ive observed campus protest at its best, that is to say, worst Berkeley students throwing incendiary objects at the chancellors home, tree-sitters camped in a campus grove for 20 interminable months and UC Davis paying a $1 million settlement to pepper-sprayed students. I cant help it, I find Van Tuinens story cute as a button.

But its not. Its not because campus personnel told a student he cannot give out copies of the U.S. Constitution. In a statement, college President Jill Stearns asserted, There is absolutely no requirement that a student register weeks in advance and hand out his literature only in a small marked area. But a security guard and staff binder suggest otherwise. The very fact that a campus has a two-person free-speech zone troubles Robert Shibley, vice president for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has aided Van Tuinen in the free-speech lawsuit he filed against the college.

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Free Speech Week — Wednesday

Posted: at 12:40 am

This is the third day of Free Speech Week, during which we will be celebrating freedom of speech by posting highlights from Catos recent work to support freedom of speech in its various forms, whether through legal advocacy, media appearances, or other public outreach.

Today we will highlight the First Amendment right of citizens to record on-duty police officers. This has been a controversial topic over the past few years, as police officers have in many instances reacted negatively, unprofessionally, or even illegally to being recorded by bystanders. While federal courts have now acknowledged the inherent First Amendment right of citizens to record public officials performing their duties, many officers still side-step the law and make arrests based on trumped up charges, like obstruction or delay of an officer.

The following Cato video featuring Radley Balko, Clark Neily, and David Rittgers gives a good overview of the importance of the right to record the police:

Also, a couple years back, I hosted a panel discussion at Cato on laws that prohibit recording the police. The video can be found here.

Being able to record the police is important because of the much needed accountability that it provides. Many of the stories and accounts Ive written about on Catos National Police Misconduct Reporting Project have only come to light because concerned citizens have stood up against police misconduct by recording itsometimes resulting in further abuse to themselves or their family. The ability to record and then speak out when something wrong happens goes to the heart of the First Amendment, which makes the fight over recording the police a good topic to remember on Free Speech Week.

For more information on Free Speech Week and to learn how you can help celebrate free speech, check out http://www.FreeSpeechWeek.org.

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Free Speech Week — Wednesday

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