So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
Ep. 160 What did ‘On the Media’ get wrong about free speech … again?
May 09, 2022
Twitter is going to become 8chan. At least, that’s what a recent episode of the popular radio program “On the Media” suggests will happen if Elon Musk successfully buys Twitter.
Musk promised to bring greater free speech protections to the social media platform. But where Musk sees an opportunity for more freedom, some see the potential for too much freedom.
Twitter is going to become 8chan. At least, that’s what a recent episode of the popular radio program “On the Media” suggests will happen if Elon Musk successfully buys Twitter.
Musk promised to bring greater free speech protections to the social media platform. But where Musk sees an opportunity for more freedom, some see the potential for too much freedom.
On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, Matt Taibbi, Nadine Strossen, and Amna Khalid discuss what “On the Media” got wrong and what they got really wrong in their episode “Ghost in the Machine.” (No, “On the Media,” Twitter will not become a platform for child pornography.)
This is the second time we have addressed bad free speech arguments from “On the Media.” The first time was last September, when this same group responded to the episode, “Constitutionally Speaking.”
Matt Taibbi is the author of four New York Times bestselling books. He writes a popular Substack newsletter, TK News.
Nadine Strossen is a professor of law, emerita at New York Law School and served for 17 years as the president of the ACLU.
Amna Khalid is an associate professor of history at Carleton College and the host of a new podcast called “Banished.”
Transcript:
https://www.thefire.org/so-to-speak-podcast-transcript-what-on-the-media-got-wrong-about-free-speech-again/
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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
Ep. 159 Hugh Hefner, free speech scrapbooker
May 05, 2022
Did you know Hugh Hefner holds the Guinness World Record for owning the largest personal scrapbook collection in the world?
When he was not building the global Playboy empire, he spent his Saturdays compiling more than 3,000 scrapbooks, chronicling free speech and press issues during his lifetime.
Did you know Hugh Hefner holds the Guinness World Record for owning the largest personal scrapbook collection in the world?
When he was not building the global Playboy empire, he spent his Saturdays compiling more than 3,000 scrapbooks, chronicling free speech and press issues during his lifetime.
Stuart N. Brotman, professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was granted exclusive access to Hefner’s scrapbooks. On today’s episode, he talks about what he found and about his new book, “The First Amendment Lives On: Conversations Commemorating Hugh M. Hefner's Legacy of Enduring Free Speech and Free Press Values.”
Show notes:
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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
Ep. 159 Disney and Elon Musk
Apr 26, 2022
Does Disney have free speech rights? And did Florida violate the First Amendment when it punished the company for its political activism? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. What should free speech advocates make of that?
Does Disney have free speech rights? And did Florida violate the First Amendment when it punished the company for its political activism? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. What should free speech advocates make of that?
Recurring guest and famed First Amendment scholar Robert Corn-Revere is here to break it all down for us. He’s a partner at the law firm Davis Wright-Tremaine, a member of FIRE’s Advisory Council, and the author of “The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor’s Dilemma.”
Show notes:
- Transcript
- Subscribe to First Amendment News
- “Punishing Disney for Opposing Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law poses Serious First Amendment Problems” by Robert Corn-Revere
- Open letter to Elon Musk from Greg Lukianoff on preserving free expression on social media
- Press Release: “Elon Musk to Acquire Twitter”
- Electronic Frontier Foundation: “Twitter Has a New Owner. Here’s What He Should Do.”
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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
Ep. 158 What is academic freedom?
Apr 21, 2022
What is academic freedom? And who polices its boundaries?
What is academic freedom? And who polices its boundaries?
Our guests on today’s show argue that the popular conception of academic freedom has become too closely connected with the concept of free speech.
Penn State Professor Michael Bérubé and Portland State Professor Jennifer Ruth are the authors of “It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom.”
Show notes:
- Transcript
- The AAUP’s 1915 and 1940 statements on academic freedom
- The AAUP’s “On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes”
- “When Professors’ Speech Is Disqualifying” by Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth
- “Democracy, Expertise, and Academic Freedom: A First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State” by Robert C. Post
- “How Genetics Is Changing Our Understanding of ‘Race’” by David Reich
- SUNY Fredonia: Philosophy Professor Suspended for Philosophizing About Pedophilia, the Stephen Kershnar case
- “Hate Speech and the Limits of Free Expression,” Kenyon College panel featuring Ulrich Baer (video)
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So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
Ep. 157 Former BBC bureau chief Konstantin Eggert and what you need to know about censorship in Russia
Apr 11, 2022
Konstantin Eggert, a native Muscovite, has reported on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. He started his reporting career in Moscow in 1990. From 1998-2009, he was senior correspondent, then editor-in-chief, of the BBC Russian Service Moscow bureau. Later he worked for ExxonMobil Russia and Russian media outlets, Kommersant and TV Rain.
Konstantin Eggert, a native Muscovite, has reported on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. He started his reporting career in Moscow in 1990. From 1998-2009, he was senior correspondent, then editor-in-chief, of the BBC Russian Service Moscow bureau. Later he worked for ExxonMobil Russia and Russian media outlets, Kommersant and TV Rain.
Now, living in Lithuania, Eggert is a vocal critic of the Putin regime and has more than a few thoughts on censorship in Russia: specifically, how it compares to Soviet censorship, the decline of independent media in the country, Russian history, and the war in Ukraine.
Eggert currently works for a German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.
Show notes:
- Transcript
- Eggert on Twitter: @kvoneggert
- Rulers and Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union
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