Eugene Volokh tears apart the “study” on hate speech here. You should really read the whole thing to get a taste for how these people think, but here are his conclusions:
The National Hispanic Media Coalition seems to be using the study to buttress its call for an FCC investigation into “hate speech” against Hispanics. The NHMC asserts that it’s not calling for restrictions on such speech or reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, but only wants the FCC to “collect[] … information and data about hate speech in the media.” Bt just on the page before it sys that “hate speech undermines the public interest,” and that “hate speech that contains false and misleading information” could violate the FCC policyagainst “rigging or slanting the news.” Such policy violations may lead to a station’s losing its license, as would a finding that the station is disserving the public interest.
Even more likely, such findings (or likely future findings) by the FCC will often lead to a station’s feeling pressured to stop such supposedly “misleading” “hate speech” in order to avoid even a modest risk of losing its license and thus losing its shareholders’ investment. Given the degree to which “hate speech” has become a term in the legal debate and not just in discussions of morality or media ethics, labeling speech (especially speech on licensed broadcasters) as “hate speech” can trigger legal regulation and not just public condemnation.
Alarming, to say the least.
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