Freedom of Speech
Ideas & Liberty / Freedom of Speech
Free speech is one of the bulwarks of individual liberty. Australians should have the right to express a viewpoint without fearing they will be dragged in front of a judge or jury. But free speech is under threat. New "rights" like the "right not to be offended" are supplanting the basic right to free expression. And governments unhappy with political criticism are increasingly seeking to regulate what they view as a hostile media.
News
Convergence Review is clever, subtle ... and worrying
One pregnant sentence in the Convergence Review says, "It is important to note that the current Australian Press Council regime where members can...
Should the media censor Anders Behring Breivik?
The government certainly shouldn't. If we value the principle of freedom of speech then it should not be illegal to air Breivik's trial. But that...
Offence against free speech
No question: in the Western world, offence is gradually trumping free speech. Consider four separate incidents, all of which occurred in the last...
Newspapers tangled in politics... that's yesterday's news
Every generation thinks the world they are presented with is unique. Reflecting on the 1819 parliamentary session, the British conservative Henry...
We're bombarded with swearing but who #*@%*! cares?
Profanity has lost much of its bite, so let's stop worrying about it. ''I like swearing; I think it's very healthy,'' Ewan McGregor told a...
Diary
The IPA 's Freedom Extravaganza Tour with Mark Steyn finished last week. Sold-out events across every mainland capital (sorry Hobart - next time.)...
Publications
Enemies of free speech
Infringements on freedom of speech are hard to justify, and they should be. The public debate that grows out of freedom of speech is the fundamental social process we use in a democracy to get things right-to sort out the good arguments from the...
We will not submit
The Finkelstein Report into Media and Media Regulation is not just a massive threat to freedom of the press. It's also a blatant attack on free speech. It's remarkable that in the twenty first century, in a liberal democracy like Australia, that a...
The Finkelstein Report into Media and Media Regulation
The Finkelstein Report into Media and Media Regulation Licensing, censorship and accountability
