David Enrich:
It’s just going to be much more dangerous for people to speak what they regard as the truth to powerful people, institutions, companies, things like that.
And we have seen this over and over again over the past few years. And I document a lot of these stories in the book, where you have a powerful local interest, maybe it’s a company, maybe it’s a businessman, maybe it’s the mayor or the police in your town, that do not like what you are reporting on. They do not like what you’re saying. If you’re just a member of the public, they don’t like the petition you’re circulating or that comment you made on Facebook.
First, they will threaten you and say, if you don’t remove that comment or that petition, we — you might get sued. And if you refuse, you actually might get sued. And even though the law is on your side right now with Times v. Sullivan in place, the process of dealing with that litigation, going to court to try and get it dismissed, hiring a lawyer, it can take years.
It’s extremely expensive. And over and over again, what I have seen in my reporting is that the much safer, easier, simpler route is what a lot of people do, which is they just back down. And for people who believe in free speech and being able to speak up and say what you believe, especially about people or groups that have power in our society, that’s a really disturbing trend, I think.
