You'll enjoy this story from November about Justice Kennedy, the great friend of "free speech"!

[struggle4progress]

November 12, 2009
Justice Kennedy's Lesson in Journalism

Student journalists at the Dalton School, a tony private college prep academy on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, got a less than encouraging lesson about journalistic independence last week when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy gave a talk at their school. Writers and editors planned to cover the event in The Daltonian, the school newspaper, but when Justice Kennedy insisted on vetting anything they wrote before it appeared in print, the school ignominiously caved to his demands.

No serious journalist worth his or her salt would agree to such terms, which amounts to giving the subject of an article veto power over its content. That's one of the first lessons aspiring journalists are supposed to learn: In a democracy, people in the news don't get to pick and choose who writes about them or to decide what makes it into print. Responsible journalism is about getting the facts straight and everyone's name spelled correctly, not about letting the people you cover tell you what you can and can't say.

We're saddened Dalton's aspiring journalists let themselves be cowed by the arrogance of power. Some of them are old enough to serve in the military defending this country's democratic values; surely they're old enough to write an account of Justice Kennedy's visit that doesn't require his approval.

We're disappointed, too, with Justice Kennedy, who on bench has been a champion of the First Amendment ...

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/2009/11/justice_kennedys_lesson_in_jou.html

[niyad]

1. I remember that story. kennedy is a sleaze.

[UTUSN]

2. Define "enjoy". But the story is important. Thanks. n/t

[Richard Steele]

3. You were wrong: I didn't enjoy that story at all . :( nm

[struggle4progress]

4. Perhaps I should take Nietzsche's warning seriously: "Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back

into you"