Editorial: On web ‘people lie like fiends’

Published 8:55 am Monday, May 17, 2010

We hope you enjoy these quotations about the First Amendment:

“Freedom depends entirely on fairness of the press. So I will fight for fairness no matter what they call me.” — Roger Ailes, chairman, CEO, Fox News, 2008

“You know, a lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans.” — Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. secretary of state, 2007

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“You should never pick up a newspaper when you’re feeling good, because every newspaper has a special department, called the Bummer Desk, which is responsible for digging up depressing front-page stories with headlines like Doorbell Use Linked to Leukemia and Ozone Layer Completely Gone Directly Over Your House.” — Dave Barry, humorist, 1991

“If every time reporters stood up for constitutional rights they’re hit with huge attorneys fees, that would be a huge chilling effect. It would be a novel way of harassing reporters.” — Gregg Leslie, legal defense director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 2008

“People can be easily duped on [the web], where anonymity is the rule. People lie like fiends in news groups.” — Soledad O’Brien, broadcast journalist, CNN, 1997

“I have seen reporters and editors argue over commas, blow up over a sentence, and, once, a colleague slammed a fist into a wall. But this doesn’t seem to be a priority right now. So, read the news skeptically. Very skeptically.” — David Cay Johnston, journalist, author, 2009

“I’m convinced that freedom to speak is worth more than tax-free status.” — Dan Fisher, pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Yukon, Okla., 2008

— Quotes from First Amendment Calendar, produced by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, 2010