(Photo by Laila Comolli)
There's a headline in Monday's Post that reads "Trump Leaves Press Freedom in Tatters." That is true as far as it goes, but the problem is far deeper and more multi-faceted than the negative impacts of Trump's time in power.
Yes, he labeled reporters "enemies of the people" and led chants at his rallies of "lock them up" while pointing at the press corps in attendance. That was terrifying and disgusting.
But what was more damaging was that he championed conspiracy theories that represent the polar opposite of what journalists strive to provide, which of course is fact-based information.
Or in Trump's parlance, that would be "fake news."
Beyond all that, even careful observers may have missed Trump's latest attempt to damage freedom of speech by undermining Section 230 of the Community Decency Act (1996), which is the legal underpinning that as a practical matter allows free speech to exist on the Internet.
Section 230 of the CDA states: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." This essentially allows companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook to avoid liability for the material posted by users, and is the bedrock of how they have been able to grow into massively profitable companies.
Angry at Twitter for labeling some of his tweets as unverified allegations, Trump threatened to veto a critical defense bill unless Section 230 was repealed. Luckily, strong bipartisan support for the bill and for 230 rendered his threat harmless, because any veto would have been overridden by Congress.
But as much as it pains me to say this, Trump had a valid point when he contested Twitter's right to edit the content of his tweets.
Think about it: Do we wish for a giant social media company to be the arbiter of what is a fact and what isn't? Do we want them to regulate free speech and, by extension, a free press? And Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whether we like it or not, constitute the new public square, especially during this pandemic.
A reasonable case can be made that Twitter and Facebook have violated their Section 230 protection by intervening in Trump's rants and cautioning readers against his opinions. These corporations seem to be acting like editors and doing what we do all the time in journalism. And we are not protected by Section 230; rather we are subject to libel and slander laws.
I imagine that once these issues get litigated, we will be confronted once again by the agreed-upon limits to free speech, and by extension freedom of the press, which is the "don't yell fire in a crowded theater" argument.
This phrase originated in an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in Schenck v. United States in 1919, which held that the defendant's speech in opposition to the draft during World War I was not protected free speech under the First Amendment. The case was later partially overturned by Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969, which limited the scope of banned speech to that which would be likely to incite imminent lawless action (i.e. a riot). [Wikipedia]
An additional limit imposed in various degrees by democratic societies concerns hate speech, including Nazi propaganda. Here again, we face the philosophical quandary that when it comes to speech, how free is free?
Just because most of us are appalled by certain statements do we really believe they should be banned?
This whole subject troubles me deeply. I've lived my entire adult life fighting one way or another for a free press and advocating for free speech for everybody. We've all seen how authoritarian regimes limit these freedoms as an essential tool for maintaining power.
Clearly, words are powerful, indeed the pen may be more powerful than the sword. But we have reached a point in history where we are compelled to revisit James Madison's fundamental admonition: "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
In 2020 America, we the people are very deeply divided on that proposition.
***
The news headlines:
* As Pandemic Threatens Britain’s Mental Health, These ‘Fishermen’ Fight Back -- A charity called the Bearded Fishermen has begun a nightly suicide-prevention patrol around a town in England, looking for people in crisis. (NYT)
* Michigan supporters of Trump gathered with firearms outside Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home over the weekend to protest the battleground state’s election results, which helped Biden win. Benson, Michigan’s top election official, said that dozens of armed individuals stood outside her home “shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns” while she was decorating the house for Christmas with her 4-year-old son. [HuffPost]
* Attorney General William Barr considers stepping down (WashPo)
*
U.S. judge rejects attempt to overturn Biden's Michigan victory
(Reuters)
* Biden Picks Xavier Becerra to Lead Health and Human Services -- The selection of Mr. Becerra, the California attorney general, is a surprise. If confirmed, he will face a daunting challenge in leading the department at a critical moment in the pandemic. (NYT)
* With a COVID-19 vaccine perhaps just days away in the U.S., most of California headed into another lockdown Sunday, and top health officials warned Americans that this is no time to let their guard down. “The vaccine’s critical,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, told NBC. “But it’s not going to save us from this current surge. Only we can save us from this current surge.” [AP]
* U.S. air pollution monitoring network falling into disrepair - GAO report (Reuters)
* Biden Win Raises Pressure on Brazil’s Bolsonaro to Protect Amazon -- Widening deforestation is leading to growing pressure on Brazil’s nationalist leader. The election of Joe Biden, who has vowed to make the environment a foreign-policy priority, will increase demands for Brazil to step up efforts to curb destruction of the Amazon rainforest. (WSJ)
* Fifty years after separatist violence prompted the government to send soldiers to Montreal, Quebec is grappling with how to remember the 1970 “October crisis. (NYT)
* A legal action filed by Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp blasted the Trump legal team’s election fraud complaints as “myth.” Kemp’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging election results called the complaints “outlandish.” The filing followed attacks by Trump on Kemp at a Georgia rally. [HuffPost]
* ‘A lost generation’: Surge of research reveals remote learning widens the equity gap (WashPo)
* Millions of Hungry Americans Turn to Food Banks For 1st Time (AP)
* Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent (WashPo)
* ‘Existential Peril’: Mass Transit Faces Huge Service Cuts Across U.S. -- Reeling from the pandemic, transit agencies are grappling with drastic reductions in ridership and pleading for help from Washington. (NYT)
* After Centuries of Obscurity, Wilmington Is Having a Moment -- Joe Biden’s hometown, known chiefly for its dull, corporate vibe, has become the center of the political universe. Residents are thrilled. (NYT)
* Will the National League Use the DH in 2021? (WSJ)
* Trump is leaving press freedom in tatters.(WashPo)
* Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs, one of the great treasures in music history, has been acquired by Universal Music Publishing Group for an undisclosed sum. (AP)
* NASA’s Hubble Telescope Captures Rare Sight Of 2 Galaxies Mating (The Onion)
***
Free as the sky underneath your wings
Free as the wind and the river flowin' to the sea
Free as the feeling they can't take from you
No walls can keep your heart from your dream
Free is just knowing that you were born to
To be free (free)
Free (free)
They'll try to tell you where to go
Try to put chains around your soul
But they could never hold you back
'Cause you were built too strong for that
Can't tame a wild heart
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