News & Opinion

Jonas Kaiser in NiemanLab, December 15, 2022, makes the point that conservatives have weaponized free speech in attacking speech they don’t like. They falsely portray themselves as the defenders of free speech and the opposition to censorship. “Journalists must understand that ‘freedom of speech’ has been a topic on the right for years, writes Kaiser, “and that claims of censorship have been voiced consistently on- and offline. Journalists need to reject this ‘free speech’ framing

Elon Musk’s declarations about his defense of free speech on Twitter ring hollow as he suspended the accounts of several journalists. The journalists were among those covering Musk in his recent moves as head of Twitter. (Newsweek, August 16, 2022,by Aila Slisco) Steven Vladeck of MSNBC, December 11, 2022, says the problem is that Musk may not have any idea of what it means to uphold free speech on Twitter or he does and is

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case of a California man who claims he has a First Amendment right to make money off false promises of a path to citizenship for immigrants. The Ninth Circuit appeals court ruled that the federal laws were overbroad and violated the man’s free speech rights. The federal government is arguing that Congress’ power to enforce immigration laws must be supported by power to prohibit encouraging someone to violate

Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, December 9, 2022, writes that the right is insisting on a right to post, that private media companies should not have the right to reject content that was suspect or prevent users from posting racist slurs anonymously. “Across the varied arguments advanced by conservatives in recent decades,” writes Serwer, “one consistent principle is readily discernible: Where a speaker is engaging in activism on behalf of conservative causes, they have an unfettered

2022 was a bad year for journalists with 67 killed along with their staff members, up from 47 in 2021. In addition the International Federation of Journalists reported that 375 journalists are in prison for their work, with China, Myanmar and Turkey the worst offenders (The Associated Press, December 9, 2022) Reporters Without Borders also reported new records in imprisonments. The number of female journalists in prison rose from 60 to 78 since 2021, and