(Minneapolis) Pat Kessler put to the crowds here at the state fairgrounds today and let everyday Minnesotans sound off in a little something with some free speech (1:45).
(Minneapolis) Pat Kessler put to the crowds here at the state fairgrounds today and let everyday Minnesotans sound off in a little something with some free speech (1:45).
(Denver) A 2006 graduate from Lewis Palmer High School says she was denied her diploma because of her valedictorian speech. She`s now suing the school district, Jodi Brooks reports.
Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's
opinion pubicly without fear of censorship or punishment. The right is enshrined
in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted
formal recognition by the laws of most nations. Nonetheless the degree to which
the right is upheld in practice varies greatly from one nation to another. In
some nations with relatively authoritarian forms of government, overt government
censorship is enforced, while among liberal democracies, censorship has been
claimed to occur in a different form (see propaganda model) and there are
different approaches to issues such as hate speech, obscenity, and defamation
laws.
In the United States freedom of expression is protected by the First Amendment
to the United States Constitution. There are several exceptions to this general
rule, including copyright protection, the Miller test for obscenity and greater
regulation of so-called commercial speech, such as advertising. The Miller test
in particular rarely comes into effect.
The principle of freedom of speech promotes dialogues on public issues, but it
is most relevant to speech which is unpopular at the time it is made. As
Pennsylvania state legislator Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia once argued in
a legislative debate, "Freedom of speech which is limited to freedom to say
whatever a majority of the Pennsylvania legislature agrees with is not real
freedom of speech."
Within the U.S., the freedom of speech also varies widely from one state to the
next. Of all states, the state of California permits its citizens the broadest
possible range of free speech under the state constitution (whose declaration of
rights includes a strong affirmative right to free speech in addition to a
negative right paralleling the federal prohibition on laws that abridge the
freedom of speech). More specifically, through the Pruneyard case ruling,
California residents may peacefully exercise their right to free speech in parts
of private shopping centers regularly held open to the public.
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