Eric Wiley @EWileySJ

MARION The First Amendment in the United States Constitution has more meaning to people than ever before, but it also is abused more than ever, David Merritt told a crowd at the Marion City Library Saturday.

Merritt, an author and journalist for 60 years, including tenures as editor of The Wichita Eagle and Charlotte Observer, called the current dialogue between MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough and President Donald Trump demeaning.

Its so demeaning to the country, demeaning to the office of the president and demeaning to the media, he said. There are media outlets not playing journalism, theyre playing some other game. Its all about ratings. Theyre (Brzezinski and Scarborough) getting not only what they deserve, but what they wanted.

Merritt's talk was sponsored by the Marion County Democratic Party and served as a fundraiser for the Marion County Food Bank. More than $70 was raised.

Merritt said the fight for the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, wasnt that easy. He called it a bitter political fight.

In the early 1900s, newspapers were thoroughly politically oriented. Then publishers decided, Why should we every day offend half of our potential readers and half of our potential advertisers,' he said. What began to evolve was what publishers liked to call a sort of objectivity.

Web caused changes

Merritt said because of that, newspapers were better prepared to help the public through the terrible events of the first half of the 20th century, such as the Great Depression.

He said there was pressure in the 1960s for privately owned newspapers to go public, because of tax and inheritance laws.

"It was tough to pass along that property, he said.

In the mid 1990s, Merritt said, a real cloud that none of us saw coming changed how we perceive the First Amendment.

The Internet put anybody in the news business. Anybody could talk to anybody in the world. You dont have to be smart, you just need a modem and a keyboard, Merritt said. Everyone doesnt just have free speech. Everyone has a megaphone.

Everyone protected

Merritt said people were able to convince Congress that in order for the Internet to reach its potential, it needed to be protected against lawsuits.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, signed in 1996, maintains that providers of Internet are not publishers. They are providing a service and not subject to laws about libel and defamation, he said. So somebody can write something about you, something really, really indecent and Facebook and the providers can say they just provide a service and are not publishers. You cant sue Facebook. They can put out anything they want and theyre not liable for it.

Furthermore, that unemployed guy in the basement in his pajamas with his computer is protected.

It's a First Amendment protection, Merritt said.

"When an Internet site or blog doesn't abide by the same standards as traditional newspapers and radio, does that deserve the same protection of the First Amendment? he asked the crowd. As painful as it is, the answer is yes. The Internet has bolstered the First Amendment.

There is reason for optimism, Merritt said.

People like you are the only ones who can do anything about that," he said.

He said representatives in Congress hear when people all their offices, and they know how many times they call.

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Merritt speaks on first amendment in Marion - Salina Journal