Monday, September 26, 2011
Mon, 26 Sep 2011
Liberty University School of Law Associate Dean for External Affairs Suzanne Caruso was a participant in a panel that convened at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Thursday, September 15, 2011, to discuss religious free speech rights. Prior to the discussion, the head of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) John Milton Project for Religious Free Speech, Craig Parshall, revealed the results of the study he spearheaded that analyzed the depth of anti-Christian censorship in new media arenas such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Internet service provider giants AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. The study, conducted entirely on publicly-available information, stated that Christian content and faith-based advertisements had been blocked by some Internet sites. Afterwards, a panel discussion ensued to explore solutions concerning the future agenda for religious rights.
In addition to Dean Caruso, the panel of four included Harold Furchtgott-Roth, former FCC Commissioner and Founder/Director of the Center for Economics of the Internet at the Hudson Institute; Craig Parshall, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the NRB; and Colby May, Senior Counsel and Director of the Washington, DC, office of the American Center for Law and Justice.
Dean Caruso, who was cited in the study for her research assistance, said that “this problem of censorship is nothing new—we have had to address religious censorship issues all the way back to the time of the earliest printing press. The platforms for the issues have just changed to include new media technology.”
The NRB plans to contact these media giants before they gormandize all media-bound Christian content and urge them to consider making the necessary changes to allow free speech rights to be actively practiced in their media venues.