The Heritage Foundation hosted this event where panelists debated the pros and cons of existing laws. Good afternoon. My name is david azerrad, director of the simon center principles and politics and the Family Foundation fellow here at the Heritage Foundation. Its my pleasure to welcome you to the Heritage Foundation for this panel discussion. The freedom of the press as all americans know is enshrined in the First Amendment. A free press is a necessary component of republican selfgovernment and a hallmark of a free society. That is not in question. In fact, its a nonnegotiable. Free speech, however, is not the exclusive prerogative of the press. The First Amendment you will remember protects the freespeech rights of all americans, not just those who so happen to have an in a in journalism. The prez, in other words, is itself subject to free speech just like everyone else is. Journalists do not take well to criticism and i say this as recovering journalist myself. There is a tendency
Foundation. Its not like to welcome you to the Heritage Foundation for this Panel Discussion and i will preserve the constitution service. The freedom of the press as all americans know is contrite in the First Amendment. The free press is a necessary component of selfgovernment and hallmark of a free society. That is not in question. In fact, its nonnegotiable. Free speech, however, is not the exclusive prerogative of the press. The First Amendment you will remember protects the free speech rights of all americans, not just those who so happen to have an ma in journalism. The press, in other words, is itself subject to free speech just like everyone else is. Journalists do not take well to criticism, and to say this as a recovering journalist myself. There is a tendency in the media to equate criticism of the press, however wellfounded, with an attack on freedom of the press itself. But i think you can be committed to free speech while attacking those who abuse it. Whats more, the fre
newly appointed proprieor of that material as the new speaker of the house. that s despite the fact that he pointedly refused a lawful congressional subpoena from the 1/6 select committee last year. now in defending his decision to share 41,000 hours of previously unreleased footage exclusively with far-right insurrection-friendly personality tucker carlson, mccarthy is showing americans he either does not understand or does not care about the potential risk that decision presents. speaking with the washington post, mccarthy suggests this, that the public fury over the selective release isn t really about egregious security concerns. in fact, it s about jealous, he insisted on the part of the media at the heart of the outrage. hang on. it gets better. today politico is first to report that house republicans, many of whom have framed the 1/6 insurrection as the defendants in those criminal cases as victims of a political attack are now moving to provide those defendants acce
michael smerconish in philadelphia. it s hard not to jump to conclusions about the tennessee state house. the r word it needs to be reserved for clear and convincing cases of prejudice, discrimination or antagonism. against the person or people based on their membership in a racial or ethnic group. after all, there is an appropriate permanence to labeling conduct as racist. but from the outside looking in, this sure does seem to be such a case. three tennessee state legislators who engaged in roughly the same behavior were meted out disparate treatment. just days after 39 year olds and three adults were murdered in a mass shooting at the covenant school in nashville. these legislators led what was described as a disorderly gun reform chant that interrupted house proceedings. there seems to be no debate as to whether they broke the rules. justin jones of nashville, justin pearson of memphis and gloria johnson of knoxville the only difference between the behavior of the three i
legislators. michael smerconish in philadelphia. it s hard not to jump to conclusions about the tennessee state house. the r word it needs to be reserved for clear and convincing cases of prejudice, discrimination or antagonism. against the person or people based on their membership in a racial or ethnic group. after all, there is an appropriate permanence to labeling conduct as racist. but from the outside looking in this short does seem to be such a case. three tennessee state legislators who engaged in roughly the same behavior were meted out disparate treatment. just days after 39 year olds and three adults were murdered in a mass shooting at the covenant school in nashville. these legislators led what was described as a disorderly gun reform chant that interrupted house proceedings. there seems to be no debate as to whether they broke the rules. justin jones of nashville, justin pearson of memphis and gloria johnson of knoxville the only difference between the behavior o