Blogs and Forums...Are they Free Speech Zones?

Recently in my home county, one of the local papers had an interesting thread that was started on their online forum. Now, I will not divulge the name of the paper or the persons involved, but I will talk about the details as much as possible and will remain factual as to avoid any potential legal action against me or my family.

There was an accusation made of censorship lobbed against a former reporter for the paper. A thread began where, as usual, there were folks espousing without fact, and with a certain arrogance due to this being the internet. One person, whom is very well known in Highlands County, in fact some may say more infamous than famous, was accused of being a sexual predator by one of the persons posting on the thread. They even posted a link to an arrest record from the Highlands County Sheriff's Department that if they would have taken about 3 minutes, they could have looked up the Florida Statutes that were listed and found what the charges were. But they did not do that, they began a lengthy argument that eventually resulted in the threat of a lawsuit.

Now, I do not believe this to be an empty threat. And apparently neither did the individuals involved. There were public apologies made and all was forgiven. Now, I found this entire exchange very entertaining for several reasons. The largest reason being, three of the persons involved with posting the misleading statements have notoriously been abusive at times on the forum. However, when the shoe was placed on the other foot, they quickly folded like a deck of cards. They initially spouted claims of Freedom of Speech and that there was nothing that they had said that was incorrect.

This leads me to my question, are blogs and forums, such as the one you are ready, free speech zones? Short answer, no. I am responsible for every statement that I place on this blog. I try to be factual and make it very clear that I am simply stating my opinion. I would have no problem in printing a retraction or issuing an apology if it were determined that I had made misleading or untrue statements. But there are those that feel that the anonymity that the world wide web provides releaves them of the responsibility of existing in a realm of factual and responsible information and the reporting thereof.

I regularly utilize a plethora of different news sources, individuals, or my own personal experience. I normally do not use real names here, unless it is a news story where the person accused of a crime has already been identified. Now, I know that I am far from a reporter and in fact, I do not know how many people are actually reading this blog. But I strongly believe in being factual when possible and making it clear that I am expressing my opinion only.

This is not a free speech zone, it is simply my zone for speech. Besides, we have always been told, nothing worth having is ever free. Right?