The Difficulties of Hate Speech vs. Free Speech

Dan Justik
dj204915@ohio.edu

Over the past couple of years, the debate of free speech vs. hate speech has taken center stage. It is a delicate topic, as it involves the most important and basic right of being an American: the freedom of speech. It is something that journalists are tasked with handling on a frequent basis.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hate speech as "speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people." For the most part, hate speech is most related to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. But it is not limited to just these attributes.

However, as long as there are no threats against a person's safety, hate speech is protected under the first amendment. As pointed out in a 2015 Washington Post article, there is no hate speech exception in the first amendment. People are allowed to spew "hate speech" because they have the freedom of speech.

Having this protection, people are willing to say what is on their mind whenever they want. In fact, they can go out in front a mass audience and say the hateful things on their mind. And they can do that because their speech is protected under the Constitution.

More and more people's voices are being heard in the world, even though that is not necessarily a good thing. In today's age of technology and social media, any person has the ability of spreading their opinion to a mass audience.

It is a good thing that people can easily have conversations with each other or be able to have their opinions heard. But at the same time, there is a fine line of sharing your thoughtful opinion and not spewing hate speech to a large audience.

One of the concerns with hate speech is that if someone hears something that they agree with, it could rile up the masses and create a large event that is centered on hate speech. For example, look at the Charlottesville Riots in 2017. White nationalist groups organized a rally, and the magnitude of the rallies made more people hear what they wanted to say.

Courtesy of the Washington Post

Dealing with the debate of hate speech and freedom speech is difficult for some journalists. They understand that their reporting of hate speech is going to make more people hear that type of speech. Which is why there are some that believe that journalists should not report on things involved with hate speech. If they do not report the speech used, then less people are going to hear it.

But if a journalist were to not report on something involving hate speech, then many people would believe that they are not doing their job. The belief is that journalists are to report the big news stories so that the general public can get an understanding of what is going on in the world.

It is a difficult task for journalists to write or say some of the hate speech that people in the United States is saying. But in order to be as truthful as possible, it is necessary for journalists to write or report the hateful things that people say.