| badgenome said: Yes, I do. However, it is not illegal to shout fire in a crowded theatre. If you do it under false pretenses, though, and people get hurt, you are liable. Ditto for libel and slander; damages have to be proven before action is taken against a person. It's a matter of balancing the freedoms of the speaker with the freedoms of everyone else. A person (or a group of people) saying things I don't like or expressing political opinions with which I disagree is not in any way infringing on my freedom, and that's all this is about. Fundamentally there is no difference between the New York Times (a corporation) engaging in political speech and something like Wal-Mart (also a corporation) engaging in political speech. If the government were to tell the NYT to shut up, people would be incensed and rightly so, but many of the same people would be totally cool with Wal-Mart's ability to speak being squelched. |
They are fundamentally different. The key difference is that NYT is doing it as a member of the press.
Fox-News is fairly right-leaning. Watching Fox News they often advocate positions of the Republican party. That is ok. If Fox Corporation started funding advertisments for one of the candidates that would not be ok. Can you see the difference?
