Category - Free Speech Storyline

JFK’s presidency lasted only two short years, but his tenure involved a sequence of history-altering events including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the founding of the Peace Corps, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Trade Expansion Act, and the heated American Civil Rights Movement.

John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant whose publication the New York Weekly Journal made no secrets about its desired aims. Its sole purpose was to expose the corrupt royal Governor of New York William Crosby.

Famous for his dazzling speeches, Frederick Douglass stood as an example of what every black man could accomplish if given the chance to be an independent American citizen.

One of the loudest voices of this period is Eugene Debs, outspoken proponent of labor unions and leader of the Socialist Party. Labeled a “traitor” by the Wilson administration, Debs takes the stand at Nimissila Park in Canton, Ohio. Before him stands a crowd of hundreds of anti-war protestors. Debs knows that he can, and probably will, be arrested for the comments he is about to make. However the self-proclaimed orator has made a name for himself by speaking out against injustice. He will not be silenced by anyone, not even his government.

With the discovery of a 7-foot basalt pillar in Susa, Iran by a team of French archaeologists in 1901, Hammurabi cemented his place in history as being one of the first humans ever to establish a written code of laws.

In 1644 England, Areopagitica stood as one of the first literary works in history to argue for a complete, uninhibited Freedom of the Press.

Freedom of speech in the media is one of the most crucial elements in preserving free speech in a society. Once the media is told to play by certain rules, free speech in the society is under threat. Still, one cannot help but wonder what role the media plays in the facilitation of terrorism. There are those who speak of “responsible free speech.” Does the media have a responsibility to ignore the personal details of attackers, or does it have the right to discover and publish that information?

Freedom of speech is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution. But what qualifies today as “Free Speech?”