World Press Freedom Day

Blawg Review #262 to mark Word Press Freedom Day is hosted on the Public Intellectual blog, not a law blog.

Freedom starts with democratizing knowledge. It’s hard to imagine a democracy without a free press and freedom of speech. Anyone can claim to be a proponent of free speech. But most people are flip-floppers on free speech. The First Amendment is a lightswitch that they turn on an off as it suits their agenda.

Have you ever met a person who openly admitted to being against “free speech”? That seems to be an undesirable position, even among those who are in fact the First Amendment’s enemies; I find that such people don’t classify whatever they’re opposing as “free speech.” Instead, they redefine it as something that sounds unpleasant, such as “hate speech”; that way its easier to get people on board with denouncing it.

Check out the links selected for this special edition of Blawg Review on World Press Freedom Day.