A free press is vital
Congratulations to your editorial boards’ well-argued opposition to House Bill 757 (“Florida anti-free speech bill would chill robust debate,” March 6).
In 1679, Benjamin Harris, journalism’s first bad boy, ran into trouble with British government officials for his criticism — of them. He took off for Boston and published “Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick,” but the colonial leaders “were not amused by his insinuations of incest in the French royal family.” They said publishers must obtain a license to write — from the very officials they were covering.
Thus, the first instance of government interference in America’s news business.
Mainstream newspapers already apply many protections against errors by publicly correcting mistakes and offering space for opinions and letters to the editor. They don’t have to.
In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives who demanded space equal to the paper’s criticism of him.
Such restrictions eliminate a newspaper’s editorial discretion, essential to the life of a free press. That’s why in 1987, the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Fairness Doctrine, the “equal time law.” It was President Ronald Reagan, himself the target of much media censure, who vetoed Congress’s attempt to retain the law.
It’s either a free press or propaganda.
June S. Neal Delray Beach
Citizens’ rights are being sent back to the 1950s
I recently watched “The Committee,” a 2012 documentary by UCF students and professors about the Johns Committee’s investigations in the 1950s-1960s. The Florida Legislature created the committee after Brown vs Board of Education to investigate and discredit civil-rights activists. The activists had the support of the NAACP which the committee decided was too strong to fight against. The committee moved onto investigating homosexuals at the state’s colleges, suggesting a link between homosexuality and Communism. There were no national gay-rights groups, so the targeted students and professors had to face the police on their own when they were investigated. More than 200 students and professors were fired or expelled.
Recently Florida has banned books, limited the teaching of Black history, restricted diversity programs, and targeted transgender people. The recent abolishment of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office at the University of Florida and probably soon at other state schools takes away the support that students and professors need when they are targeted or silenced. The state is moving back to the restrictive 1950s.
Patty Grant Winter Springs
We must protect the concept of home rule
The vote by Florida legislators to block the possible inclusion of a charter amendment in November’s ballot — to control and design a more vibrant, sustainable and beautiful Orange County — is another cowardly, arrogant and ignorant bypassing and circumventing of our home rule (“Stop the sneak attack on Orange County growth proposal,” March 1).
Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican who introduced the bill, doesn’t even live in Orange County and was obviously lobbied by those who want to see the process taken out of the citizens’ hands and continued to be manipulated by developers. May he continue to grovel to the special interests.
Linda Stewart, a Democrat whom I supported as my county commissioner for two terms, has become shockingly deformed by the siren call of money and future interests in serving her corporate donors. To wit, the recent scandal of her voting against the interests of Orange County she purports to represent. And now twice, with her voting against the rural-boundary study conducted by the Orange County Charter Review Committee.
And what about us, Orange County citizens? Where do we stand in the midst of this constant attack by Florida Legislators to abrogate and diminish our home rule? We must stand up to these people who arrogantly and incompetently want to bully and oppress our interest to preserve and create a more stable, sustainable and higher standard of living community.
Home rule is about the self-interest of present and future generations who will call Orange County their home. It must be protected, embraced and fought for.
Nelson Betancourt Orlando
