Legal System in Business Regulation: Freedom of Speech

Legal System in Business Regulation: Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech is a guaranteed protection of the rights of people within the United States to speak freely without censorship. This right is exercised daily in organizations, governments, and court systems but there are limitations on the right to speak. “The First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech Clause protects all forms of expression, oral, written, art, and symbolic but this right is not unlimited. The clause only protects speech not conduct.” (Yates & Bereznicki-Korol, 2005) Speech is separated into 3 categories and is recognized by the US Supreme Courts: fully protected, limited /partially protected, and unprotected speech (Yates & Bereznicki-Korol, 2005). Fully protected speech is speech that cannot be forbidden or regulated. Only limited services of government is allowed to utilize this speech type but the Supreme Court places limitation on speeches that take place on government property. “An prime example of this term is a government speech.” (McCoy, 2006) The limited or partially protected speech covers allowable speech but is subjected to the government limitations by the Time, Date, and Mannor Doctrine. For instance, advertising and slander would be controlled by the government on how the communication is presented. Lastly, unprotected speech is speech that is not acceptable by the government and is not protected by the First Amendment and can be forbidden by the government (Yates & Bereznicki-Korol, 2005). Here are some types of unprotected speeches: fighting words, obscenity, blackmail, slander, or bribery. None of these examples are protected by the constitution and can be addressed by the government.

Countless cases are presented to the US Supreme Court challenging the First Amendment, Freedom of Speech. Many US citizens use the First Amendment to there advantage as well as business owners and organizations. The United States Constitution along with the United States legal system played an important role in business regulation. There are many types of business that are regulated by the government such as the entertainment industry. Part of the entertainment industry, communication, is regulated by the F.C.C. (Federal Communication Commission) where this organization regulates television / radio broadcast, cable, wireless, and satellite to make sure that the regulations are not compromised in anyway. Their jurisdiction covers all 50 states along with Washington DC.

Some federal laws are in place to protect and restrict sexually explicit channels and shows by limiting the content to be shown. These laws and acts were passed to protect children from viewing this content during peak hours. On May 23, 2000, the Supreme Court overturned this ruling for freedom of expression (Greenhouse, 2000). The court realized that with technology advancing to the point that a device is available to prevent a child from viewing the explicit shows. In the article, Supreme Court Roundup; Court Overrules Law Restricting Cable Sex Shows, Justice Kennedy was quoted saying, “Citizens are entitled to seek out or reject certain ideas or influences without government interference or control.” (Greenhouse, 2000) Cable programming is now allowed to have all types of shows available at any time of the day.

How did this federal law affect the cable channels such as Playboy TV? This federal law restricted the Playboy