A press release from the NRB states that the organization is reaffirming free speech as the “cornerstone of American democracy.” Furthermore, they encourage the FCC to continue applying these standards “consistently and fairly” to all broadcasters in order to keep an environment where “disagreement can exist without coercion.”
Michael Farris is general counsel at NRB. He told AFN that it is important to remind everyone that free speech is for everybody, not just the people who share the same opinion and agree together.
The FCC needs to realize that whatever precedent they set – after they consider incidents like Jimmy Kimmel and others – could come back to impact religious broadcasters in a future administration.
"If we set the rule that you can be prosecuted, lose your license, or suffer other consequences because of saying things that the current administration disagrees with, that's bad precedent and violates, in my opinion, the First Amendment," says Farris.
Farris added that people should keep in mind that the threats of violence or applauding violence is a completely different matter and, in most cases, is not protected by the First Amendment and the principles of free speech.
"If it is just disagreement over policy issues and does not involve violence, our viewpoint is the government should never be able to say to any broadcaster, network, or anybody 'silence that voice’," states Farris. "Free speech is for everybody."
Farris told AFN that there is misunderstanding about free speech principles because a lot of people are getting fired over what they said in response to the Charlie Kirk assassination. That, said Farris, is a different principle of freedom.
He informs that only the government can violate the First Amendment and only the government has a duty to obey the First Amendment.
"Private employers can hire and fire their people for almost any reason they want. They cannot do race discrimination or other kinds of discrimination in the name of firing and hiring issues and saying that is free. It is not. But for other reasons, you can hire and fire people for anything you want," explains Farris.
So, if ABC, for example, wanted to act on its own decision and fire Jimmy Kimmel, Farris said ABC has the right to that action. The same goes for every other employer that has fired somebody over what they said about Charlie Kirk. According to Farris, they have a right to do that.
"When you are a government employee, there's slightly different rules. But at the end of the day, if you are celebrating violence and you work for the government, you can be fired for that too, especially if you work in an education setting," states Farris. "So, all the way around, there's been a misunderstanding about free speech."
