Katie on "freeSpeech"
We’ve gotten a lot of comments and feedback about last night’s “freeSpeech,” which featured a father whose son was killed at Columbine.
A lot of the comments were negative, like these:
We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant. (Some of you made that point loud and clear!)
But that is the very essence of what we try to do with the “freeSpeech” segment. This is a platform for our viewers to hear from a wide range of people – those who may share your views, and those who don’t.
When we approached Brian Rohrbough and asked him his thoughts about this latest school shooting, this essay was the result. We understood that people may disagree with what he said, and with what he believes. But censoring or attempting to re-shape his opinion would be antithetical to the very idea of free speech.
This is a nation built on dialogue and debate. And, most importantly, on freedom of speech. As George Washington once said, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
We hope “freeSpeech” can add more voices to the national discussion. At the very least, last night, we got people talking.
And we hope the conversation is just beginning.
UPDATE: You can find more on this issue, including a statement from Executive Producer Rome Hartman, over at our sibling blog, Public Eye . -- Ed.
A lot of the comments were negative, like these:
Your free speech segment today was the biggest load of hogwash I have ever witnessed. How could you use an unspeakable tragedy to give a rightwing flat earth nut job a podium?But we also received some positive feedback:
Tonite, you have some idiot who tragically lost his son at Columbine…he has my sympathy, but he does not deserve a spot on the Evening News to spout his political views.
This ultra right wing religious right drivel is a disgrace.
The Free Speech segment from the father of the Columbine student was one of the finest pieces I have ever heard on network news. My sincere appreciation goes to CBS for the courage to air it.Clearly, this struck a nerve.
Thank you! As the mother of three children, I applaud your episode of Free Speech tonight. I’m sure that you will receive many e-mails denouncing your segment, but I appreciate hearing a “conservative” view in what can be a very liberal media…I live in the heartland of America (Kansas) and believe we all need a strong faith to get through difficult times.
I never thought I would hear such words on any network television station. He said all the things I have been thinking since the ‘60s.
We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant. (Some of you made that point loud and clear!)
But that is the very essence of what we try to do with the “freeSpeech” segment. This is a platform for our viewers to hear from a wide range of people – those who may share your views, and those who don’t.
When we approached Brian Rohrbough and asked him his thoughts about this latest school shooting, this essay was the result. We understood that people may disagree with what he said, and with what he believes. But censoring or attempting to re-shape his opinion would be antithetical to the very idea of free speech.
This is a nation built on dialogue and debate. And, most importantly, on freedom of speech. As George Washington once said, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
We hope “freeSpeech” can add more voices to the national discussion. At the very least, last night, we got people talking.
And we hope the conversation is just beginning.
UPDATE: You can find more on this issue, including a statement from Executive Producer Rome Hartman, over at our sibling blog, Public Eye . -- Ed.
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See all 166 CommentsThere is a very good speech made in "The American President," where President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) talks about how American Citizenship is something you have to work at hard:
"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free."
I may not agree with everyone I hear. I may hate the rhetoric that someone is spouting. But this is America. Every person is entitled to say what he or she believes. That's what makes this a wonderful country. That is what you celebrate every night. Stick to your guns! (figuratively speaking only, of course)
"Everybody has opinions...we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion...We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it's nothing. It's just bibble-babble."
Then you presented a speaker who did not speak of his experience as the father of a child killed in a school shooting. And his experience was that of a suicidal student in his own school, not a suicidal adult raiding a school populated by strangers. Further, he offered an insane tirade that does not deserve a response.
You had the choice to run the Free Speech that was originally scheduled. You really screwed up.
I really hate to see CBS News screw up so badly.
Sylvia Merryman
Don
The point is that CBS should give the opinion of someone who actually has something intelligent to say, or give no opinion at all. The news should not be the medium for such hate mongering as Mr. Rohrbough%u2019s.
I encourage everyone, who share this view, to write to the sponsors of CBS news and let them know that you find their products 'repugnant'.
The appearance of that attractive logo-like artwork twenty years ago, produced with considerable cost, effort and skill by some earnest but unknown CBS artist, gave that terrorist organization a prominence and standing (in the context of the broadcast) that made me physically sick - and furious.
At the top of this thread KC said:
This is a nation built on dialogue and debate. And, most importantly, on freedom of speech. As George Washington once said, %u201CIf freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.%u201D
Wrong. This is a nation built on the Bible. KC would never tell you about that same General George Washington on his knees in the snow praying to an Almighty God for strength and victory for his troops. Is THAT "repugnant" too?
CBS and KC deserve some credit, but God bless Mr. Rohrbaugh - and the pure truth he delivered.
Wow, that might be the most ignorant statement I have ever read! I just wonder if those who were taking the study were Liberals also? LOL. Also, you Liberal idiots can have your so called "education". I will continue to be a Conservative and live with good morals and beliefs. Liberals always fail to learn one thing however, COMMON SENSE!!!
"We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant."
Do you know what I find repugnant, Ms. Couric? The fact that conservatives are belittled, derided, and called names by "free-thinking" liberals such as yourself and the human debris that actually watches the CBS Evening News. Is a man (who lost a child) not even given the common courtesy of expressing his sorrow and pain, without being attacked by the left?
Do you know what else is repugnant? That someone from CBS News would post this quote by Adlai Stevenson: %u201CThe first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum.%u201D Do you know why that's repugnant? Because CBS News isn't living by that principle when it calls an honest opinion "repugnant."
I have a question for CBS News: Do you purposefully sift through the leftover *** in the human gene pool to find your employees, or do they seek you out, instead?
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