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Author Topic: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech  (Read 392 times)

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Offline rangerrebew

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‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« on: July 22, 2023, 05:42:00 pm »
JONATHAN TURLEY
Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks

‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech

We have often discussed the embrace of censorship by the left and many Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden. However, the most distressing aspect of this trend has been the support of many in the media. That erosion of support for free speech was on display this week in a tweet from a New York Times’ reporter. Sheryl Gay Stolberg  said that this week’s effort by Democrats to censor Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “raised thorny questions” about whether misinformation is protected speech. The statement shows a breathtaking lack of understanding of the First Amendment as well as a lack of fealty for free speech values.  There are no “thorny questions” over the censorship of this speech, because misinformation is unquestionably protected under the First Amendment.


The media’s embrace of censorship was on display on various channels after the recent opinion finding that the Biden Administration had violated the First Amendment in “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” However, the New York Times immediately warned that the outbreak of free speech could “curtail efforts to combat disinformation.” Yet, no one expressed it more simply and chillingly than CNN Chief White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly who stated that it “makes sense” for tech companies to go along with government censorship demands.

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/07/22/thorny-questions-new-york-times-ponders-whether-misinformation-is-protected-speech/#more-207601
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Thomas Jefferson

Offline Hoodat

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2023, 05:43:22 pm »
Funny.  The Slimes have been claiming their own misinformation has been protected speech for almost a century.
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If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.     -Dwight Eisenhower-

"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."     -Ayn Rand-

Offline Kamaji

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2023, 06:01:04 pm »
:facepalm2:

That the question even needs to be asked demonstrates that the NYT is more interested in tyranny and authoritarianism than in individual freedom.

The whole point of the First Amendment is protecting speech that the government contends is "misinformation".  It most definitely doesn't exist to protect speech with which everyone agrees, for the simple reason that such speech doesn't require protection.

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Online roamer_1

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2023, 06:07:18 pm »
The ONLY speech worth protecting is speech in dissent.
Which is often called misinformation by the designated deciders - There's your problem... Someone is a decider. That's the single reason why speech is free in America.

The way misinformation is handled is which published facts... and retractions... By a press bent toward truth - which we no longer have.
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Offline Kamaji

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2023, 06:08:34 pm »
Quote from: roamer_1 on July 22, 2023, 06:07:18 pm
The ONLY speech worth protecting is speech in dissent.
Which is often called misinformation by the designated deciders - There's your problem... Someone is a decider. That's the single reason why speech is free in America.

The way misinformation is handled is which published facts... and retractions... By a press bent toward truth - which we no longer have.

:thumbsup:
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Offline goatprairie

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2023, 02:50:03 am »
It is far better to allow "questionable" speech than to put strict limits on what people can say.
Any argument, good or bad, out in the open can be debated and countered.
And as Roamer I has stated, who gets to decide what is misinformation?
On a number of different websites with liberal and conservatives, people on the left are usually upset that media organs like Fox News or conservative talk radio exist. They're not too subtle about wanting complete control of the public conversation.
And, of course, they're the people behind The (Un)Fairness Doctrine and hate speech laws.
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Offline PeteS in CA

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2023, 02:11:45 pm »
The First Amendment says it is and doesn't give a @#$% about what the NYT labels speech and ideas with which the NYT disagrees.
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If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2023, 03:05:11 pm »
The 1st Amendment protects the expression of falsehoods, as well as truths.

If it did not, the New York Times would be forced to cease publication immediately.
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"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Offline Kamaji

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Re: ‘Thorny Questions”: New York Times Ponders Whether “Misinformation” is Protected Speech
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2023, 03:33:18 pm »
Quote from: andy58-in-nh on July 23, 2023, 03:05:11 pm
The 1st Amendment protects the expression of falsehoods, as well as truths.

If it did not, the New York Times would be forced to cease publication immediately.

:thumbsup:
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