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Happy Free Speech Week.
In case you aren’t aware, this annual event kicks off Monday. It’s intended to raise public awareness of the importance of free speech to our democracy.
That, of course, includes a right to outlandish comments made by political candidates and stupid actions taken by professional football players.
The First Amendment also protects the media, especially when reporting stories about people in the public eye. I’m speaking, of course, about the latest threats of legal action from the camp of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leveled against the likes of the New York Times for reporting the news.
Now, I’m not an attorney schooled in the First Amendment, but I like to think I’m educated and at least somewhat knowledgeable on the topic, so I wanted to devote some space to it today.
The First Amendment, of course, prohibits any law from being made that would impede or limit the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech (or expression in many forms), freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble or that would prohibit petitions against government.
That means that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has the absolute right to sit or kneel for the National Anthem, just like others have the right to criticize him for it. Of course, decisions like Kaepernick’s can be very unpopular, but it often is the most controversial or unpopular forms of expression that are most in need of protection.
That brings me to the latest of the ridiculous that has emerged in this year’s presidential election.
After multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump were reported last week by media around the world, Trump and his wife Melania threatened legal action against the New York Times and People magazine.
Let me first say that it is true political candidates have the absolute right to make stupid statements. It’s their freedom of speech, after all. And the media, of course, has the right to report them.
Along with that, media in the United States of America has the right and the responsibility to research and report stories about candidates – and all those in the public eye. In fact, it is well established that in libel cases, public officials have a higher standard of proof than private cases.
That’s not to say, now, that the media is free to report anything it wants, even if it’s not true. It simply means that the burden to prove libel – malicious intent to damage someone’s reputation – is higher when a public figure is the one alleging libel.
Trump claimed last week that the New York Times libeled him when the paper reported that two women said he sexually assaulted them.
In response, the Times defended its story, calling it “newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern.”
Trump vehemently denies the allegations, and demands through his attorney that the story be retracted. At a rally here in Ohio, Trump said the media had “slandered and lied about me with false accusations.”
The Times refused to retract the story, saying its reporters worked diligently to confirm the women’s accounts. “It would have been a disservice not just to our readers but to democracy itself to silence their voices,” a letter from the Times’ attorney said. The attorney also said the newspaper would “welcome the opportunity to have a court set him (Trump) straight.”
Trump, by the way, has called the allegations by these women “total fiction.”
Now, it’s up to you to decide who you believe. But here is my point: Allegations against political leaders, candidates and others can be investigated and reported in America. That is not the case in so many other oppressed parts of the world. And that’s what makes America great.
George Washington knew that early on. “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter,” he said.
At the end of the day, whether or not you like what you hear or see, freedom of speech, of expression and of the press, is a non-partisan, non-ideological issue that should unify us as Americans – not divide.
blinert@tribtoday.com