North Country Gazette



Censorship Has No Role In A Free Society

Posted on Wednesday, 2 of April , 2008 at 10:38 pm

COMMENTARY

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assembly, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”.

Real journalists strongly support and exercise this right and believe that they have an obligation to use the First Amendment to inform the public, not try to stifle the free exercise of opinions and discussion.  The First Amendment protects not only a journalist’s right to free speech and press, but it also protects the public’s right to information. 

Over the past several weeks, several individuals have attempted to censor the articles and commentaries of The North Country Gazette.  Censorship has no role in a free society. 

Wikipedia defines censorship as the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, as determined by a censor.

Corporate censorship, as defined by Wikipedia, is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to halt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business in a negative light, regardless of the truthfulness of the material presented.  Privately owned corporations supposedly in the “business” of reporting the news also sometimes refuse to distribute certain information due to the potential loss of advertiser revenues or shareholder value which adverse publicity may bring, Wikipedia says. 

One certain individual, displeased with The North Country Gazette’s exposure of his practices and dispelling his intentional published false statements,  has embarked on an intense campaign against NCG which includes defamatory and libelous postings on certain forums and attempts to interfere in various business relationships including the documented filing of false complaints and attempts to terminate the publisher’s ISP and website.

The North Country Gazette will soon present an in-depth investigative report complete with documentation concerning this matter which has been evolving over the past several months along with the reprint of articles which certain individuals have attempted to censor.  Watch for it.  4-2-08

Category: Constitution, Consumers, Courts, First Amendment, Media

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