dennispedrie

This post is in response to this post. I’ll quote it here:

They took his show off the air for saying that? There goes freedom of speech.

This was in reference to a certain broadcaster having his show canceled by ABC for comments about the 9/11 attacks. It seems that Infini has some misconceptions about Free Speech. The first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . .” There is an important distinction to be made. ABC News is not Congress. Freedom of Speech has nothing to do with private enterprises. Private corporations or individuals are not bound to enforce freedom of speech. That means that a newspaper can choose not to publish something it doesn’t like, or a business can stop their employees from saying something offensive in the workplace, or that ABC News can fire an employee for saying something offensive on national television.

There was recently an episode in my area of a school stopping the publication of a student newspaper due to some inappropriate articles that were published. This caused an uproar among community groups, so-called free-speech activists and others. What they failed to realize was that the paper was funded by the school district, and was thus under the authority of said district. While the authors certainly had the right to write whatever they want, the school also has the right to withdraw permission for the article to be published using taxpayers money.

When You take money from someone, you place yourselves under their authority. A candidate for office agrees to do what his donors ask in exchange for campaign contributions. A School funded paper agrees to print only what the school sees appropriate. News Anchors agree to not say things that anger ABC News. You forfeit your right to free speech in a medium when you place yourself under the authority of that medium. While certainly Bill Maher has every right to say what he wishes, he needs to use discretion as to where and when he says it.

We need to realize that the Constitution protects out liberties from being infringed upon by the government. When we enter into a voluntary agreement with a private (or public) organization, we agree to be bound by certain guidelines set by the organization. Our freedom of speech extends only so far as we allow it.