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As our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry has written many times free expression and tolerance are fundamental (especially of critical media outlets like The Eye), but there are limits (racism or homophobia should NOT be tolerated for example), and today we have more evidence of how this cause (without the limitations) has been taken up, incongruously, by the right.
This whole area is a minefield, and I am wary of stepping into it.
I feel I must, however, and prepare myself for the brickbats which will inevitably follow.
It seems to me that the default setting must be ‘toleration’, but a line has to be drawn – and this is always difficult, because people will argue about where that line should be set.
The Welsh Government (WG) for instance, declares about its employment practices: “We will not tolerate unjust or unlawful discrimination on any basis, including on the basis of any protected characteristics”, and this could apply to its attitudes generally. including with Freedom of Information requests (FoIs).
Yet there is a tension inherent in the words ‘free’ as well as ‘tolerate’, and today we see this tension in spades, with Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement saying they believe in free expression, but condemning the European Union (EU) which also believes in it, yet are trying to draw that line.
Over the past year the Trump administration has attacked the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) for restricting freedom of expression on American tech platforms.
Sarah Brooke Rogers, has been particularly vociferous in her criticism. She is the United States Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
In March of this year, Ms Rogers was nominated to become Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agency for Global Media, the parent of Voice of America (VoA), and she has blasted European countries (sometimes misleadingly) for prosecuting social-media users.
The judiciary committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) has also held hearings on the DSA’s “threat to American speech and innovation”.
“We believe in free expression, that’s one of the hallmarks of Western culture”, proclaims Jim Jordan, the committee’s chair. “We don’t like it that Europe is taking down American tech companies either”
Critics inside MAGA highlight prosecutions in Europe over posting anti-gay Bible verses. It is business interests, however, that play a vital role.
Last month the Trump administration asked to join Elon Musk’s case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against a €120 million ($137 million) fine on X for allegedly violating the DSA.
Then there is the issue of ‘fake’ news, or ‘disinformation’, because, again, a line must be drawn, as not all information is GOOD information.
In the European Union (EU) they care about this issue very deeply, so a Code of Practice (CoP) was first established in 2018 for online platforms, trade associations as well as key players of the advertising sector, and it has now been beefed up.
it commits people to curbing disinformation and improving their online policies, and has proven to be an innovative tool for ensuring greater transparency as well as accountability of online platforms. It provides a structured framework for monitoring and improving the platforms’ policies on disinformation. The Eurocrats state: “Disinformation is a concern for our citizens”..
In Serbia (a candidate for EU membership) KRIK, an investigative outlet (like The Eye) that often exposes graft in the Serbian government, has been hit with more than 30 lawsuits in the past few years, of which 17 are current, proclaims, and the editor, Stevan Dojcinovic, has to spend up to five days a month in court.
The state media accuse him of working for the CIA and for George Soros, a Jewish billionaire who is a constant victim of anti-Semitic, as well as conspiracy theory attacks.
Faked pictures of him with a gang boss have been circulated, as well as real, intimate photos meant to embarrass him.“It has taken a huge, heavy toll”, Mr Dojcinovic states.
You might think Mr Trump would be in favour of cracking down on things like this, he has, after all, barred certain journalists from White House briefings, because of “their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS”.
But I’m not so sure.
Certain sections of his MAGA support base (as well as Mr Trump himself), have in the past shown deep hostility to the EU (and now of course, opposition to the DSA because it supposedly restricts freedom of expression).
But who’s freedom are we talking about here, and is it right sometimes to restrict it?
Drawing that line is tricky…
The memories of Phil’s astonishing, decades long award-winning career in journalism (when freedom of expression was fundamental, but abuse invariably followed because he imposed limits) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
