Recently, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), a non-profit organization with a long and respected history of civil rights advocacy, submitted a joint filing with 30 other organizations, including Free Press, calling for an FCC inquiry into the prevalence of hate speech in the media.

In the filing, NHMC urges the FCC “to examine the extent and effects of hate speech in media, including the likely link between hate speech and hate crimes, and to explore non-regulatory ways to counteract its negative impacts.” Further, NHMC clarifies that it “is not asking – and will not ask – the Commission to compose any sort of content regulations pertaining to hate speech in media.”

As a threshold matter, such an inquiry is not novel. Through the course of history, government agencies and government-chartered committees, such as the Kerner Commission, have undertaken reviews of the role that media plays in civil society. The reports generated by these reviews have shed light on this important topic and have brought necessary, though sometimes painful, discussions of race relations to the fore.

Indeed, in 1992, Congress directed the drafting of a report on the role communications technologies play in crimes of hate and violence directed against racial and ethnic minorities. That report was created with the help and input of several government agencies, including the FCC. In its comments, NHMC has requested that this information be updated.

Free Press believes that the intent and purpose of NHMC’s filing are plain. Unfortunately, there has been some confusion regarding where Free Press stands on free speech and the regulation of content online. This is something that Free Press takes very seriously given our mission is to promote an open and democratic media system. Accordingly, we take this opportunity to address a few concerns.

Free Press does not and will never support FCC regulation of content on the Internet. Period. Nor do we believe that the FCC has the authority to engage in such regulation. Indeed, our support of NHMC’s request for inquiry is contingent on the fact that NHMC explicitly rejects the notion of any content regulation as a remedy for hate speech.

Free Press does not support prohibiting anonymous speech online. We respect the rights of all people to voice their opinions freely and without fear of reprisal – even those opinions which are offensive, denigrating, or premised on bigotry. That is the price of a free society.

For those who remain unconvinced, we encourage you to read NHMC’s comments and, particularly, NHMC’s Petition for Inquiry for yourself. You will find some truly disturbing and sickening examples of the media’s use of misinformation, divisive and dehumanizing language, as well as calls for violence, including dismemberment, rape, and the murder of individuals because of race, ethnic origin, and sexual orientation.

But you will not find any requests by NHMC for censorship or speech regulation of any kind.

Nevertheless, we understand that some parties, because of mistake or willful ignorance, will always insist that any discussion of the impact of media in our society is the front-door, back-door, side-door, and/or garage-door to a free speech violation. That view – well-intentioned or not – distorts the guarantees of the First Amendment.

The First Amendment does not prohibit inquiry or public discussion of the rise of hate speech in media and the consequences for our communities. Indeed, if we allow people to use the First Amendment as reason not to examine and talk about problems facing our media system and our society, we abandon the very principles the First Amendment seeks to advance.

To conclude, Free Press does not support the government policing or censoring speech. On the contrary, our policy work promotes openness, transparency, and advancing a democratic and participatory media system. This includes supporting the discussion of the role that media plays in people’s lives and the responsibility of media to serve the information needs of communities.

The unfortunate reality is that segments of our society, such as communities of color, are underserved, and in many cases disserved, by the media. We commend and stand-by NHMC for shedding light on the important and troubling issue of hate speech in the media, and look forward to furthering a meaningful and respectful dialogue on the subject.