Freedom of Speech: September 2020 podcast listening list

Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy, but it can be the source of confusion, misunderstanding, and hurt. And even when we are proponents of free speech in theory, the practical application of it can be quite tenuous and brutal. This month we’re listening to five episodes that dig into freedom of speech and provide examples of where the line gets a little fuzzy.

(This podcast listening list was curated by Paul Kondo, the creator behind the Podcast Gumbo newsletter which delivers three podcast episode recommendations to your email doorstep each week). 

Podcast Listening List on FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Get the full listening list on your podcast player of choice using these platforms:

Podcast: Shaping Opinion
Episode: The 1st Amendment: 45 Words that Shaped America (July 2020, 58 min)
How the First Amendment has shaped America.
Listen on app of choice (via Podkite) or via Podchaser or Podyssey
Podcast: Unprecedented
Episode: Middle Finger To God (November 2019, 37 min)
The Westboro Baptist Church’s speech has brought on extreme distress. The US Supreme Court weighs in.
Listen on app of choice (via Podkite) or via Podchaser or Podyssey
Podcast: Free Speech Coalition’s Podcast
Episode: Episode 24: What is the Maori position on Free Speech? (July 2020, 30 min)
A discussion of Maori perspectives on free speech and how banning offensive speech denies Maori the opportunity to “set the record straight.”
Listen on app of choice (via Podkite) or via Podchaser or Podyssey
Podcast: Come Through with Rebecca Carroll
Episode: 7. Walter Mosley Believes in Freedom of Speech. Period. (May 2020, 28 min)
Walter Mosley was called to HR when he used the n-word to tell the story of something that happened to him. He quit the job and wrote an opinion piece entitled “Why I Quit the Writers’ Room.”
Listen on app of choice (via Podkite) or via Podchaser or Podyssey
Podcast: The Compass
Episode: Journalists: Free speech v personal safety (April 2020, 27 min)
Journalists often face a tough choice: exercise their right to free speech and freedom of the press or risk their own personal safety.
Listen on app of choice (via Podkite) or via Podchaser or Podyssey

Bonus podcasts/episodes:

• The Lawfare Podcast: “Jillian C. York on Free Expression on a Broken Internet”
• The Vergecast: “The future of Facebook and democracy with Casey Newton and Alex Stamos”
• Democracy Works: “Free speech from the Founding Fathers to Twitter”
• On the Media: “We Need To Talk About Poland”

PBC Podcast Episodes about the Freedom of Speech Listening List

• Roundup of the Freedom of Speech listening list
  Open in podcast app of choice…
  

• Interview with Tim O’Brien, host of Shaping Opinion
  Open in podcast app of choice…

Conversation Starter Questions

1. Why is freedom of speech an important right? When, if ever, can it be limited?
2. Did you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Westboro Baptist Church (as we heard in Unprecedented)?
3. Do you think that in the situation that Walter Mosley describes, the HR department at his company made the right decision to reprimand him?
4. Do you think you would have the bravery of the Chinese journalist in Hong Kong whose story was told in The Compass episode?