Upholding the tenets of freedom of speech

The press, bloggers, and many users on social media are looking for interesting stories that will catch the attention of the public and, along the way, increase their fame and popularity. Such people can go to any extent, even with half-baked information, to defame people's characters. Bad news flies like wildfire, and only a few good news stories are transmitted to the eager public.

Freedom of speech remains one of our human and fundamental rights, but to what extent should such freedom be permitted? Should such freedom be unchecked and allowed to fly around with a cause of slander and defamation? What if the world permits everyone to say their mind without respecting the position or feelings of others? Chaos, no doubt!

The spread of fake news like wildfire continues to create a panicky and false impression in the minds of the populace. The government of Nigeria has begun a crackdown on propagators of false information on social media by imposing fines. Of course, government everywhere is criticized, but if it is not censored, there will be worse criticism and falsehoods propagated against it. This also goes for individuals; if social media users are left uncensored, a lot of defamation will occur. I happen to flood my WhatsApp status with memes, and these include trending news that may be stale, untrue, or even true. My aim was primarily to create fun, and many viewers often visited to laugh off stressful days. I received occasional caution as to some stale news, and then I began to censor what went up in my status. Here, I ensured my reputation was preserved.

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Definitely a no. Every human being is unique. We have a wide range of thoughts running through our minds, and allowing every Tom, Dick, and Harry to express themselves would most probably be offensive to another. Though it is with freedom, caution must be taken when addressing a set of people. You would not imagine me walking into a group or set that is alien to my point of view and speaking in a way that favors only me. The other group would be offended and would probably attack me verbally or physically. Though the speech is free, it definitely must be expressed with wisdom.

Everyone should be held accountable for what is said. This liability would surely caution people from making careless and slanderous statements. This does not in any way mean people should not say what is on their mind, but it would regulate the authenticity of what is said.

The press remains a tool of propagation. Personally, I love to listen to the news so as to stay informed. Although news these days is mostly deforming, The press has master ways of sugar coating what is the truth. Call it paraphrase, but adding and subtracting what is said for the purpose of suiting that which would put them in the spotlight at the detriment of another is an act that should be sanctioned. Perhaps this is the reason why we have bodies such as the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) that oversee the conduct and censorship of the press. We are at a point in Nigeria where, when you say A, the press can modify your A to mean B or even C.

I hope someday we can have the truth as it is while encouraging the liberty of speech.

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Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.