“At what point does the defense start being invoked enough for the authorities to determine that what Fox News does is like yelling fire in a crowded theater and is no longer protected by the First Amendment?” GQ writer Julia Ioffe tweeted this week.
The take was in response to a story about an attorney for a client facing charges over the January 6 Capitol riot, who claimed he had “Foxitus” and “Foxmania” from watching the right-leaning network excessively for six months.
Ioffe invoking the often misused “yelling fire in a crowded theater” defense – the phrase originates from a decades-old Supreme Court case with a decision that was eventually overturned – did not inspire much confidence in her case.
“Here’s GQ’s @juliaioffe suggesting that the ‘authorities’ should start considering declaring Fox News to be outside the bounds of First Amendment press freedom protections (invoking the historically ignorant fire-theater cliché to justify it),” Journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted on Friday, adding his shock that a “journalist” would express such an opinion.
In a followup tweet, Greenwald accused “liberal journalists” of being the “leading advocates for censorship.”
“She’s a good little communist stooge. Must prevent wrongthink,” conservative filmmaker Nick Searcy added.
Ioffe has attacked Greenwald in the past for supposedly targeting “young, ambitious, successful women,” citing criticism of multiple female journalists, but Greenwald has argued that sexism accusations are merely being used to deflect from his criticisms.
“They infantalize prominent professional women and then somehow accuse others of being misogynistic. What’s more misogynistic than claiming that adult women can’t endure critiques of their journalism the way men can?” he tweeted last month in response to the accusations.
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
© 2021, paradox. All rights reserved.
