Should the United States hold the rest of the world to its standard of free speech? This is no academic question. Recently, our free speech tradition has clashed with traditions that favor limits on free speech. Moreover, the global nature of the Internet is such that a person’s speech in one country may clash with another person’s beliefs in another country. Some Americans therefore suggest that we need to be aware that our free speech tradition is not a universal one. In “The World Doesn’t Love the First Amendment,” Eric Posner writes that “Americans need to learn that the rest of the world . . . see[s] no sense in the First Amendment” and that “[w]e have to remember that our First Amendment values are not universal.” Thus I pose the question again:  should the United States hold the rest of the world to its standard of free speech?

The answer is “yes, it should.” Here is why: the right to free expression is a universal human right. Though our free speech tradition in America is unique, freedom of speech is not uniquely American. It is no more uniquely American than the right not to be seized unlawfully; it is no more uniquely American than the right not to be tortured; it is no more uniquely American than the right not to be pressed into slavery; and it is no more uniquely American than the right to freedom of conscience, religion, and thought. Indeed, the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” adopted by most of the world’s major countries, affirms freedom of speech to be a universal right. Thus the world holds itself to a universal standard of free speech.

Perhaps we ought to worry that it is a mark of intolerance to hold all cultures to such a standard, especially cultures that cherish beliefs that clash with free expression in other cultures. Yet it is no more intolerant to hold other cultures to a standard of free speech than it is to hold them to other standards of human rights, e.g., the right not to be enslaved. Tolerance does not require us to compromise on the fundamental values of civilization.

Perhaps, too, the American tradition of free speech, as expressed in the First Amendment, is appropriately broad for American citizens but inappropriately broad for citizens in countries with different free speech traditions, as Posner suggests. However, if free speech in America is broad, then this a virtue, not a vice; and as Aristotle pointed out, if something is a virtue, then there cannot be too much of it. Hence, the American tradition of free speech is an exemplar to the rest of the world of the right to free speech. This is what free speech in America means today.

In recognition of Free Speech Week, The Media Institute and its First Amendment Advisory Council presented a First Amendment Seminar in Washington on Oct. 25 featuring two panels and guest speaker Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Above, the first panel featured (seated from left) Floyd Abrams, Susan Benesch, Rebecca MacKinnon, and Patrick Maines.  Michael O’Leary (far left) of the Motion Picture Association of America, which hosted the event, introduced the participants.

The second panel of the Oct. 25 event featured moderator Bruce Brown (far left) with panelists Terry Adamson, Bruce Gottlieb, Ashley Messenger, and Barbara Wall.

Sen. Patrick Leahy stressed the importance of the First Amendment to democracy in his opening remarks.

The goal of FSW (formerly National Freedom of Speech Week) is to raise public awareness of the importance of free speech in our democracy – and to celebrate that freedom.  FSW is observed during the third full week of October annually.  The next Free Speech Week will take place Oct. 22-28, 2012.

Now an independent event, Free Speech Week was created in 2005 by The Media Institute, which continues to promote FSW and manage its website.  An FSW Advisory Council headed by Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman was created in 2012 to increase the reach and impact of Free Speech Week.

There is no other celebration like Free Speech Week.  At a time when many other causes are recognized with special weeks or even months, this is the first annual “week” in more than 200 years that recognizes this fundamental freedom.

Free Speech Week is not a political event or ideological platform.  In fact, FSW is designed as a unifying celebration, elevating the vision of the Founding Fathers above the political fray and recognizing free speech as something we can all believe in and cherish.

Free Speech Week depends on the participation of many “Partnering Organizations,” which share this belief in freedom of speech and spread that message to their members and audiences.  They do this in a wide variety of ways that include articles, seminars, contests, and public service announcements.

Partnering Organizations include media companies, media trade associations, journalism societies, and non-media organizations.  A special category of Educational Partners includes university law schools, departments of communication, and student groups – some of the most active participants in Free Speech Week.  Organizations of all types, as well as individuals, are encouraged to participate.

The FSW website, freespeechweek.org, offers ideas on how to celebrate free speech and provides other First Amendment information.  Interested groups and individuals are encouraged to take advantage of these resources and to join in celebrating free speech as “the sound of liberty.”

For Release:  July 30, 2012                    Contact:  Richard T. Kaplar

Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman To Head New Free Speech Week Advisory Council

Arlington, Va., July 30 – The Media Institute, a nonprofit non-partisan independent education and research foundation focusing on communications policy issues, announced today that Bob Pittman, CEO of Clear Channel, will chair a newly formed Advisory Council for Free Speech Week (FSW), the country’s premier celebration of free speech in its many forms.  The next Free Speech Week will take place Oct. 22-28, 2012.

Free Speech Week is an annual event celebrated during the third week of October.  Companies, nonprofit groups, educational institutions, and individuals are encouraged to participate by conducting their own free-speech activities during that week.

Though now independent, Free Speech Week was created in 2005 by The Media Institute, which continues to promote FSW and manage its website (freespeechweek.org).

“Freedom of speech is the most basic right in our democracy, and a critically important part of the fabric of public debate,” said Bob Pittman.  “Raising awareness of freedom of speech is a worthy and important initiative, and I am happy to join with The Media Institute to increase national awareness of Free Speech Week and its role as the country’s premier annual celebration of free speech.”

“Bob Pittman and his colleagues on the FSW Advisory Council promise to take Free Speech Week to a whole new level of public awareness and participation,” said Media Institute President Patrick Maines.  “We are thrilled that someone with Bob’s background and knowledge has offered to help us further the understanding of free speech and the critical role it plays as a bedrock of the American value system,” he said.

Bob Pittman is a media innovator who has made a significant impact in a number of industries and companies.  Prior to joining Clear Channel, he was a founding member of Pilot Group, LLC, a New York private investment firm.  Pittman also led the team that created MTV and has served as CEO or chief operating officer of MTV Networks, America Online, Six Flags Theme Parks, Quantum Media, Century 21 Real Estate, Time Warner Enterprises, and AOL Time Warner.

Pittman will be joined on the FSW Advisory Council by several other leaders in the media and entertainment industries to be announced shortly, who will work with him to promote Free Speech Week.

The Free Speech Week website is freespeechweek.org.  The Media Institute website is mediainstitute.org.

Robert W. Pittman, a founding member of Pilot Group, LLC, a New York private investment firm, is a media innovator who has made a significant impact in a number of industries and companies. He was co-founder of the MTV network, helped bring America Online into the mainstream consumer market, and turned around stagnant brands likes Six Flags Theme Parks and Century 21 Real Estate.
He has been CEO of MTV Networks, AOL Networks, Six Flags Theme Parks, Quantum Media, Century 21 Real Estate, and Time Warner Enterprises. He was also COO of America Online, Inc. and AOL Time Warner. Pittman began his career at age 15 as a radio announcer in his native Mississippi and programmed his first radio station in Pittsburgh, which became the number one rock FM station in its market. He had similar successes as the programmer of the NBC-owned AM and FM stations in Chicago and, later, at WNBC in New York, NBC Radio’s flagship station. He is the former chairman of the Robin Hood Foundation and the Public Theater of New York, and still serves on those boards in addition to New York City Ballet, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Alliance for Lupus Research. Among many honors, Pittman has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and received the International Radio and Television Society’s Gold Medal and a Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award. He was recognized in Life’s “Five Original Thinkers of the ’80s”, Advertising Age’s “50 Pioneers and Visionaries of TV” and “10 Marketers Who Changed American Culture.”