The Left look at things differently than a conservative. From their perspective anything President Trump said or did was divisive and not worthy of truthful reporting. Oh, the same could be said of the Left’s feeling for Trump supporters as well. Well, anyway, what does the left think of the liberty to enjoy free speech? They ask; ‘What are the limits of free speech? For those of us who report, edit and publish the views of a wide range of people, it is a difficult question, especially in an era of extremism, terrorism and deep political division.
As Denis Muller writes in his thoughtful analysis, it is an issue that has long confronted journalists, but became more pressing in the era of Donald Trump. When news networks cut away from Trump during a speech in the aftermath of the 2020 election, they did so on the grounds he was lying and endangering civil peace. But it was a contested decision.
Many of the decisions around how to report or broadcast such speech will come down to motive, Muller reasons: for example, is it censorship to omit hate speech or incitement to violence? No. Because the reporter doesn’t agree with it? Yes.
Free speech is an indispensable civil right that is under constant assault. But it is not absolute. So, writes Muller, “while the media face some extremely difficult decisions in today’s operating environment, they do not need to burden themselves with the belief that every decision not to publish is the violation of an inviolable right”.’https://theconversation.com/to-publish-or-not-to-publish-the-medias-free-speech-dilemmas-in-a-world-of-division-violence-and-extremism-153451?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20January%2021%202021%20-%201839217900&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20January%2021%202021%20-%201839217900+CID_dc9891b792e7719cd60e47621a6e1cce&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=To%20publish%20or%20not%20to%20publish%20The%20medias%20free-speech%20dilemmas%20in%20a%20world%20of%20division%20violence%20and%20extremism
