White nationalist to control which journalists cover Florida 'free speech' event

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

White nationalist to control which journalists cover Florida 'free speech' event

• University of Florida says Richard Spencer has authority to deny access
• Expert: school has ‘unfortunately sacrificed’ journalists’ first amendment rights

Lois Beckett in Gainseville
Wednesday 18 October 2017 21.46 BST

A white nationalist has been given full control over which journalists will be permitted to cover his “freedom of speech” event at the University of Florida on Thursday, a university spokeswoman said, a situation one expert called “ironic”.

“They’ve rented the facility. It’s their event. It’s not our event,” university spokeswoman Janine Sikes said on Wednesday. “It’s their event, so that’s why they can have whomever they want.”

White nationalist Richard Spencer, who is headlining the event, has the authority to handpick which journalists can cover his speech or deny access to any journalists at all, first amendment experts at the University of Florida said.

Spencer’s group has also been given complete control over who will receive audience tickets. The group announced they will hand out tickets in person about an hour before the speech starts, a plan one student organizer called “volatile” and “a huge danger”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/18/white-nationalist-richard-spencer-florida-free-speech

[lpbk2713]

1. Look for a lot of white faces in the crowd.

And question #1 on their journalist survey ... "How many times have you appeared on Faux News?"

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Wouldn't be nice if nobody went? Let it be an echo chamber for

a few dozen or a few hundred haters.

[shenmue]

3. Well fuck him

[gratuitous]

4. I hope the University is commanding top dollar for the use of its space and reputation

Because, like it or not, the University of Florida becomes Richard Spencer's partner in this speech by acceding to all of his demands. You don't get to play footsie with this Nazi then say afterwards, "Whoa, it wasn't us!"

[jberryhill]

5. If they regularly rent their facilities, they have to do it on equal terms

It is a state institution.

Are you saying that the state government should have the right to refuse to rent to someone on the basis of the content of what they have to say?

[mountain grammy]

8. Yes, they must..

what if he was calling for the murder of all Jews, for example? While not explicit with white nationalists, the agenda is quite violent and racist. Yes, in certain cases, the state government has an absolute right to not rent the hall.

Do you really think anyone with the money has the right to use state facilities?

[jberryhill]

12. This is well-trod ground in 1st Amendment law

Try this one on for size...


http://www.acluohio.org/archives/cases/city-of-cleveland-v-nation-of-islam

In September 1994, Minister Roland Muhammad, on behalf of the Nation of Islam and in conjunction with Muhammad’s Mosque No. 18, inquired about the possibility of having Minister Louis Farrakhan deliver a free lecture to a males-only audience at the Cleveland Convention Center. This men-only gathering adhered to a more than sixty-year-old tradition of having ministers deliver separate weekly addresses to males and females. Following a meeting between city officials and representatives of the Nation of Islam, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Properties Oliver Spellman, Jr. informed Minister Muhammad that city ordinances forbade discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sex. Spellman concluded that if the Nation did not intend to violate these laws, the Nation could use the space. The Nation of Islam, however, did not want to compromise on its traditions.

Without looking, what do you suppose the result was?

[mountain grammy]

13. I'm sure the ruling was for the Muslim group

but I'm talking about advocating violence or mayhem against a certain group..

Ok, I looked and I was right, but this group wasn't calling for violence against anyone. I'm saying the state can absolutely refuse to rent the space to some groups.

[jberryhill]

15. You are suggesting what is called a "prior restraint"...

...based on what they might say.

First off, there is no "calling for violence or mayhem against a certain group" exception to the First Amendment.

The way the First Amendment is currently understood, there has to be a reasonable prospect of "imminent lawless action". And by "imminent" that means proximate in time and space - i.e. right then and there.

In other words, yes, it is perfectly legal for a speaker to say "We should kill all the ________" (fill in the blank). It's not illegal to say that. It's not illegal to get up in front of a crowd at an event and say that.

It is a different story when the speaker is pointing to someone standing right there and saying, "Hey, let's kill that person right now" under circumstances where it is reasonable to believe that the people attending will indeed do that right there and then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_and_present_danger

But, more importantly, the rental cannot be denied on "what if" they say this or that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_restraint

[mountain grammy]

16. Yes, I read that..

also "clear and present danger." There was an Ohio case where the SC overturned lower court rulings about a KKK speaker who had been found guily under an unconstitutional law restricting hate speech.

I guess a lynch mob has all the free speech they want until the lynching begins, then it's too late.

[jberryhill]

17. That last sentence is pretty accurate

[gratuitous]

9. Where did you draw that conclusion?

I never said they shouldn't rent their hall to a Nazi; I just have never heard of a renter able to dictate so many terms of his appearance. The Nazi gets to decide who comes in and who doesn't come in, which members of the press will be admitted and which won't. All under the rubric of free speech.

Yet you're preoccupied with something I didn't say. That seems to be happening with notable frequency at DU. For some reason.

[jberryhill]

10. If you rent a pavilion in a state park for your kid's birthday party...

Then, yeah, you get to determine who can come or go.

When you rent a facility, you can decide who to invite or not.

[mountain grammy]

6. What a snowflake..

Will the dotard be attending?

[Initech]

7. I hope no one attends or covers the event. Let that fucker speak to an empty room.

[HopeAgain]

11. People take pictures of everyone who goes to see him

And publish them for people to identify. Let's see some Nazis lose their jobs.

[Cadfael]

14. Surely the press can cover the outside of the event

The comings and goings of whomever attends....

[Takket]

18. amazing isn't it?

so many places and venues give white supremacists a voice under the guise of "well we don't like it but, you know, first amendment!" and at the same time they show that "excuse" is nothing more than lip service by letting the same white supremacist choose his own journalists.

and BTW U of F is footing a $500,000 security bill for this. That is LUNACY. half a million dollars? That is what tuition is going for? not building improvement? staff? scholarships? Security for a racist. Make them pay their own fucking bill.

[Lilyhoney]

19. Pass this around for Alligator Brewing for doing what they can.

:large