[sf-lug] Free Speech: Re: "Justin Noor" <justinnoor.io at gmail.com>: If you don???t ... I???ll ...

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Michael Paoli (Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu):

> And, I probably should've also added, but failed to:
> Free Speech, ... yup, 'ya get that ... within reason.  However one has
> no guarantee of entitlement to an audience or followers.

For some reason I'm reminded of a couple of the more memorable sayings
by renowned media critic Abbott Joseph "A. J." Liebling, who until his
death in 1963 had a (spookily prescient column in the _New Yorker_
magazine entitled 'The Wayward Press.  (Liebling was among the earliest
establishment critics to sound the alarm about corporate takeovers of
newspapers and magazines, and subsequent mass-layoffs of journalists.)

  The Internet has given everyone with a computer and Internet access
  their own printing press.  You do not have to be a mogul to publish your
  opinions.  The big question is:  Can you get anyone to listen?

  
  Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.


https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/weekinreview/07cohen.html

I think if Liebling were resurrected into the modern age, in which
newspapers and magazines are still withering, and Google & Facebook
have, between them, managed to sew up 70% of all online advertiseing
revenues, he'd smile wryly and say 'I warned you.'