roundtable: AR Editor-in-Chief Renews Civil Disobedience Pledge

roundtable: AR Editor-in-Chief Renews Civil Disobedience Pledge

AR Editor-in-Chief Renews Civil Disobedience Pledge

Craig A. Johnson (caj@tdrs.com)
Fri, 8 Dec 1995 21:53:55 +0000 

Message-Id: <199512090257.VAA08898@clark.net>
From: "Craig A. Johnson" <caj@tdrs.com>
To: telecomreg@relay.doit.wisc.edu
Date:          Fri, 8 Dec 1995 21:53:55 +0000
Subject:       AR Editor-in-Chief Renews Civil Disobedience Pledge


FYI.  The shape of things to come.

Craig


Craig A. Johnson
<caj@tdrs.com>


================================================

EDITORIAL
+
by Joe Shea
American Reporter Correspondent
Hollywood, Calif.
12/7/95
indecency
free

               WE'LL FIGHT TO THE END FOR FREE SPEECH
                             by Joe Shea
                  American Reporter Editor-in-Chief

        Well, it looks like push may come to shove.  A joint
        Senate-House
conference committee has inserted language into the telecom reform
bill that replaces a prohibition on Internet speech that is "harmful
to minors" with a ban on Internet speech that is "indecent" -- normal
speech, in many cases, and not necessarily lewd or obscene speech.
        As many of you know, in Issue No. 49, in an editorial entitled
        "We
Vow To Challenge The Exon Act" our newspaper took the stand that such
language violates the right to speak freely granted by the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  We said then, and we say again,
that the survival of free speech on the Internet is more important
than even the survival of this newspaper, and we will risk its very
existence to fight for a principle in which we fully believe.
        We immediately won widespread support for our stand, and in
        the
ensuing days, Judge Stephen Russell of Texas agreed to write the
"indecent" article we had vowed to publish if the bill becomes law,
and Randall Boe, an attorney with Arent Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn,
a distinguished First Amendment proponent that litigated the "Seven
Dirty Words" case, agreed to represent our newspaper in an an action
that would be pursued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if
necessary, to overturn it.
        We have often believed in the past months that the language
        would
be abandoned, especially after House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared
the Exon language to be, in his opinion, unconstitutional and a
violation of our free speech rights.  Exon has gone, but the language
survived.  We now believe it will probably be adopted.
        In the months since that June declaration, we decided that we
would ask other publications to join us in publishing the offensive
article by providing links to it from their home pages.  We devised a
legal strategy which, if it is successful, may preempt the law, and
may even make it unnecessary to publish the offensive article, which
we would prefer not to do.
        Nonetheless, we plan to proceed as have vowed to proceed. 
        This
may create some discomfort, and we will honor any request to be
formally disassociated from the newspaper that any of our writers or
subscribers may make.  It is not our desire to offend anyone with
language that even offends us, but we will not give away to anyone
even a hair's breadth of our right to free speech, in any medium, at
any time.
        Please be with us in our fight.

                                     -30-

                      The American Reporter
          Copyright 1995 Joe Shea, The American Reporter
                       All Rights Reserved
        The American Reporter is published daily at 1812 Ivar
        Ave., No. 5, Hollywood, CA 90028 Tel. (213)467-0616,
        by members of the Society of Professional Journalists
        (SPJ) Internet discussion list.  It has no affiliation
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        URL:  http://www.newshare.com/Reporter/today.html
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Joseph P. Shea, Editor-in-Chief         William  Johnson, Correspondent
Steve Herman, Japan Editor              Jeff Foust, Space Editor
Walter Brasch, Correspondent            Jim Tynen, Humor Correspondent
Clarence Brown, Correspondent           Philip E. Daoust, Correspondent
Calvin Demmon, Science Editor           E.W. Count, Crime Editor
Robert J. Morgan, Correspondent         Frank Stietzen, Jr., Correspondent
Karen Hawkins, Correspondent            Andreas Harsono, Correspondent
Paula Linville, Correspondent           Stephen O'Reilly, Correspondent
Scott Lewis, Correspondent              Anne Bilodeau, Correspondent
Thomas Marzahl, Book Editor             Bob Elston, Jr., Correspondent
Wilson da Silva, Correspondent          Russell Sadler, Correspondent
Dennis Hinkamp, Correspondent           Elaine Hopkins, Correspondent
Joan Silverman, Correspondent           David Hipschman, Correspondent
Mike Finley, Correspondent              Yves Leclerc, Correspondent
Frank Touby, Correspondent              Bob Ewing, Corresponden
Elaine K. Crabtree, Correspondent       Craig A. Johnson, Correspondent

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