A well-informed public is best equipped to root out corruption and, over the long haul, promote liberty and justice. “Public discussion is a political duty,” the Supreme Court said in 1964. That discussion must be “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open,” and “may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” In 2018, some of the most damaging attacks are coming from government officials.
The Federal Communications Commission has shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s flagship radio station, the pirate radio station, Liberty Radio. Liberty was hit with a $15,000 fine and at least temporarily pulled from the airwaves. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin (TX) alleged that Liberty Radio had functioned without a license since at least 2013, and had been transmitting from a tower at an Austin apartment complex. Liberty Radio stopped airing on the radio in December, but still streams online.
Public-radio companies PRX and PRI are merging in a bid to capitalize on the surging popularity of podcasts and other digital formats as listeners and content creators migrate away from traditional broadcast radio.
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