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Ihewulezi Joseph Nicholas

FYS 100

Dr Harold Blanco

1/28/15

Regulating free speech

Freedom of speech by the people and most journalists has done more harm than good in

the society that we live in. It is beneficial for most of the people in a country to be restricted to

the kind of speech they give in a society as this creates hatred among people that disagree with a

person’s belief and this can result in planning an attack on that person. According to Edwin

Baker (1992), “Two individuals or two groups often want to make incompatible uses of a

particular area at a particular time. Legal rules will allow one to prevail and these rules

necessarily limit the other’s freedom. And if both want to use the property for the first

amendment purposes, restriction of someone’s speech or assembly activities is logically

compelled” (p. 126). Edwin states how a person’s speech is being compelled due to legal rules

allowing one to prevail more than the other in issues involving two people who are fighting for

their rights.

Virtually, when freedom of speech is regulated it reduces certain attacks particularly on

journalists that broadcasts their message and opinions worldwide. Most of the foreseen

circumstances that occur are mainly religious views. According to Garrett Epps (2008),

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“Investigative journalists rely heavily on sources who wish to remain anonymous. Often these

sources describe acts of malfeasance or law-breaking. A frequent condition of an interview is a

promise that the journalist will protect the sources identity even from law enforcement officials

and grand juries. From time to time, journalists are jailed for contempt when they assert this

“journalist privilege” (p. 151). Garrett describes generally why most journalists are jailed due to

assertions of the journalist privilege. When most journalist give their opinions about a religion or

any other subject, there are certain people that disagree with such statements and this brings

about extreme hatred on most journalists. As it has been seen, over the years, most journalists

have been killed and are still been killed due to freedom of speech, but there are consequences.

With the regulation of free speech, certain problems particularly religious views will be

eradicated. According to Alan Greenblatt (2013), “Free speech, once seen as close to an absolute

right in some countries, is beginning to conflict with other values, such as security, the protection

of children and the desire not to offend religious sensibilities, not just in the Middle East but in

much of the world, including Western Europe” (p. 377). Alan notes that free speech that was

once seen as a right everyone in a country possess has now began to cause conflict in countries.

Leading to security and protection of children who are affected.

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References

Baker, C. (1989). Human liberty and freedom of speech. New York: Oxford University Press.

Epps, G. (2008). The first amendment, fredom of press: Its constitutional history and the

contemporary debate. New York: Prometheus Books.

Greenblatt, A. (2013, April 26). Free speech at risk. CQ Researcher, 23, 377-400. Retrieved

from http://library.cqpress.com/