COMM3631: Freedom of Speech

The historical context of freedom of speech is an extremely interesting one. Why is it that the concept of free speech has been an undying one and has span the history of human communication. Breaking free speech in to three traditional rationals makes the concept easier to understand and definitely makes sense. These three modes of freedom of speech are philosophical, political and individual. They are easy to distinct from one another and function in completely different ways. From a philosophical level, free speech is a device of truth. That if people are able to speak freely and let their ideas compete, "in the long run the truth will prevail" according to Tedford and Herbeck. I find this interesting, because in my mind, this is the most important facet of free speech. I say this, because I find free speech essential for any kind of societal advancements. If people are not allowed to speak their mind and share their ideas, or discredit others ideas, how is a society supp...

In the textbook, Tedford and Herbeck discuss three main reasons for freedom of speech: philosophical, political, and individual. Although all three have their own unique importance in regard to the freedom of speech, I would like to focus on the political reasons. To begin, freedom of speech is a fundamental principle of our democratic self-government, in order to facilitate an open political discussion. Additionally, providing the American people with the ability to speak freely about the government promotes citizen participation. Currently, citizen participation in our government in fairly low and by giving them the ability to participate means citizens, “can receive uncensored information and opinion to help them reach informed conclusions on public issues, and freely express the conclusions they reach” (Tedford and Herbeck 429). This is crucial in creating an environment of transparency and not allowing the government to determine what its citizens are exposed to, which can be dan...

Chapter 15 discusses Thomas I. Emerson’s Expression-Action Theory. In this theory Emerson talks about the “chaotic state of First Amendment theory” (433, Tedford). He talks about the idea that the Supreme Court is not consistent in regards to the first amendment. Tedford and Herbeck state “A condition that…has resulted from the Supreme Court’s failure to formulate and apply any single theory to free-speech cases. The various tests uses by the court…not only are vague, Emerson says, but vary so much from case to case that they can hardly be described as a rule of law at all” (433). Emerson goes on to explain how the expression-action theory can remedy this problem. What I found interesting about this though was Emerson’s diagnosis of the problem. I personally have heard of many Supreme Court cases surrounding the first amendment. I tried to look up exactly how many have been decided and couldn’t find an exact number. I did find  this page that highlights SOME landmark cases, b...

In chapter 15 of our textbook, Tedford and Herbeck explore Haiman's communication context theory and the four areas of speech he theorizes about. These areas include speech about other people, speech directed to other people, speech within the marketplace of ideas, and government participation in the communication marketplace. Haiman takes a position throughout these areas that's predominantly pro free-speech, as he repeatedly circles back to the notion of introducing more speech into the marketplace of ideas when conflict arises. When discussing the area of speech directed towards other people, he also takes a somewhat unconventional position at odds with current law in favor of the speaker. He writes: "...individuals in a free society are responsible for their own behavior. They are not objects which can be triggered into action by symbolic stimuli but human beings who decide how they will respond to the communication they see and hear." Reading this reminded me of ...

I thought this last chapter of the book Freedom of Speech in the United States was a good wrap-up to an understanding what the Freedom of Speech is and means for America. Of the three rationales for free speech, the political reason seemed to be the most dominant to me. Tedford and Herbeck explain that free speech is necessary for a democratic self-government to work by identifying three key points: “ (1) facilitating free and open deiscussion of political issues within government, (2) promoting citizens ’ participation in the political process, and (3) supporting the oversight function of a free press ” (429).   Basically, these points related to democracy allow parliament to debate, average citizens to receive and give information and opinions, and protection of those who expose abuse of power. Democracy seems to be a core reason for the Freedom of Speech from Tedford and Herbeck ’ s perspective and from that of Faust Rossi, Cornell professor of law. In an article on the Corn...

 According to our textbook freedom of speech was established in our country because it helps the people have a voice. It also helps facilitate political discussion about our government and political process. I think that freedom of speech is fundamental to being American and having rights pertaining to expression is very important to our way of life. I think that without the freedom of speech we would be in a very different situation than what we know today. Freedom of press wouldn't be a right if we didn't have freedom of speech and that is something to where if something was wrong we wouldn't be able to find out about it because of that. The press in some ways is the voice of the people that will expose government corruption or will undermine something they think is wrong. In today's society I think that it is more worrisome that we have seen that there are limits on our freedom of expression. Our freedom of expression shouldn't have a cap on it and it shouldn...

The Freedom of Speech is one of the United States’ core values and a large part of the country’s identity. Having the ability to express yourself with limited government intervention is something the United States prides itself on and is something fairly unique to the U.S. Generally there are three reasons why the freedom of speech is understood as important and necessary: it promotes intellectual freedom and the search for truth; politically it enables discussion within the government, it enables citizen participation, and it helps hold the government accountable via the free press; and the freedom of speech promotes individualism in the sense that it allows people to find, listen to, and speak their own truth and beliefs which provides humans with a certain amount of dignity (Tedford & Herbeck 428-430). In an article in the Atlantic Garret Epps, and constitutional law professor at the University of Baltimore, explains how he believes the way the first amendment is being inte...