Slippery
2007-07-19 07:35:49
The freedom of speech allows the exchange of ideas. That includes ideas that seem far-fetched, by western standards. But the idea of printing extreme op-ed pieces is not new.
The Washington Post and The New York Times printed the writings of the Theodore Kaczynski in September of 1995. Earlier this year The Washington Post printed a letter from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
While the average American may view these ideas as radical and unreasonable, the freedom still exsists. Mr. Rubin points out, “The idea behind op-ed article is to let an individual or group express its opinion directly, without the mediation of the newspaper’s reporters or editors.”
What happens when the newspapers and editors start mediating these exchanges of ideas?
