Hate Speech or Free Speech?

Professor Eric Freedman6 December2011

Tallinn University Institute of Communicationfreedma5@msu.edu

Lecture Outline

• Hate speech: Words or sticks-and-stones?• Rights of individuals & the press• The far right in the Netherlands• The Prophet Muhammad cartoons

controversy• The Holocaust • Diversity in news coverage & sourcing

Themes

• Professional ethical standards in theory and in practice.

• Conflicts between multiple roles of journalists as professionals & citizens.

• Impact of changing communication technologies & economic models on ethical practices.

Glossary

• Marketplace of ideas: Concept that allowing free debate in liberal democracies about competing ideas on controversial issues will lead to the truth or the best policies.

3 Issues

Rights of individuals and groups to express their own opinions in private or in public.

Rights of the press – news organizations – to express their organization’s views.

Media’s right to serve as a forum for other people to express their views

Stereotyping

Hate Speech: Words or Sticks & Stones?

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

English idiom

“Words that kill.”Valeriu Nicolae

The Geert Wilders Case: The Netherlands

Holocaust memorial at the site of the former Klooga concentration camp, part of the Viavara complex in Harju County.

2 Areas of Diversity Concern

• Diversity in the newsroom• Diversity in the newsResources: • Islam, Muslims & Journalism Education

websitehttp://imaje.msu.edu• “Best Practices for Reporting on Islam”

http://imaje.msu.edu/guidelines/

Discussion Points

• Can journalists avoid showing their strong personal feelings when reporting about bias, discrimination and hate groups or hate speech?

• Should news stories directly and accurately quote hate speech statements and slurs?