Panama City, Bay County, Florida
Thursday, December 28, 2014
By: Kevin Earl Wood, Email: allunited@bellsouth.net
“The Interview” Movie Christmas Poster
The whole purpose of Bay Community News is to exercise and enforce the First Amendment to “our” Constitution that demands that the citizens of our free country have a fundamental right to receive and hear the truth no matter how hard that truth is to swallow and that the press, and yes the public, are free to publish the truth to others.
Bay Community News sometimes publishes the truth that other media outlets in Bay County and Panama City avoid.
The First Amendment does not distinguish between the press and the general public. Both the press and the public have equal rights under the United States Constitution as the courts of this country have upheld consistently. The only distinction between the public and the press is that the commercial press has vast resources exceeding that of the general public to acquire, publish, and disseminate information.
Also, the First Amendment does not only protect the right to collect and disseminate news, but it also protects the right of expressive conduct, the right to religious freedom, the right for citizens to peaceably assemble, and to petition government for a redress of grievances which are all foundations of our democratic form of government. A “free” society could not exist without such guarantees and protections.
This reporter just finished watching the new controversial movie, “The Interview”, and felt compelled to write this story. For those who are interested the video can be viewed on the Internet as well as selected theaters throughout the country that previewed the movie on Christmas day with packed audiences.
The publication of “The Interview” on Christmas Day, December 25, 2014, should not only be judged on the content of the movie, who some may agree reaches the boundaries of “raunchy” in some scenes, but for its importance in defending free speech and the First Amendment that defends expressive conduct in our free country, as compared to North Korea and other countries.
As President Obama chimed in through a White House release, “As the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression…The decision made by Sony and participating theaters allows people to make their own choices about the film, and we welcome that outcome.”
The publication of “The Interview” serves as a continuing bulwark defense against attacks on the First Amendment and defends the United States Supreme Court decision in Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988).
It is certainly not debatable that Hustler Magazine was a “raunchy” publication that many find offensive. In a November, 1983 issue of Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt authorized the parody publication in the magazine that well known national TV preacher Jerry Falwell experienced his “first time” during a “drunken incestuous rendezvous with his mother in an outhouse.”
Of course, Falwell sued Flynt and his company for libel and at trial the jury found Flynt and Hustler guilty on the defamation charge and awarded damages. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment against Flynt and Hustler Magazine. Falwell v. Flynt, 797 F.2d 1270 (CA4 1986).
Flynt and Hustler Magazine appealed the Fourth Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a unanimous 8-0 decision by the court (“Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O’connor, and Scalia, JJ., joined. White, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment…”), the Supreme Court found that the satirical publication was protected by the First Amendment.
Under First Amendment standards, there is little distinction drawn between the Hustler parody of Jerry Falwell and the story line of “The Interview.”
In a free society free speech is essential to protecting freedom and free speech can lead to debate that is healthy for a free society. While some may disagree, or find offensive, the speech of another citizen, that speech cannot be suppressed unless it creates a public hazard, like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire or through speech that could incite a riot.
As the Supreme Court noted in the Hustler decision, “a state could lawfully punish an individual for the use of insulting ‘fighting’ words’ — those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.”
Merely because Hustler, and “The Interview”, may be considered raunchy by some, it does not justify suppression of such speech in a free society.
Our President, Barack Obama, was right on point by applauding the release of the movie. NPR quoted Obama stating that, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States…”
Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton was further quoted in the NPR story, “First, I was surprised by the remark. But, I think actually the president and I are coming from the same place. We are obviously both strong proponents of the First Amendment.”
This reporter recently appeared before the Bay County Commission in Panama City, Florida, and argued that new rules that require citizens to completely “turn off” their cell phones during a public meeting, rather than silence them or put them in “vibrate” mode, violated the Constitution, particularly the First Amendment.
Another rule unconstitutionally gave the County Manager absolute discretion to tell citizens where they can use their cell phones as recording devices in the public building. Cell phones, used as “recording” devices, have become a mainstay in our society as a tool to document the conduct of public officials doing public business in a public place, particularly law enforcement.
County Commission meetings are, by law, open to the public and may be “recorded” by the press or the public.
The Commission recognized the arguments of Bay Community News and directed the County Attorney for Bay County to look into the matter further for possibly rescinding or amending the new cell phone and “recording” rules. Bay Community News will appear at the next meeting in January, 2015, to ask for an update from the County Attorney.
Bay Community News will continue to advocate for the First Amendment rights of citizens in the State of Florida and in our free country.