Ex-publisher says First Amendment misunderstood

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the freedom to worship as they choose, speak their minds, publish opinions and assemble to challenge government policies.

"To be American means you have the right to live free from government intervention," Tim Gallagher, former president and publisher of the Ventura County Star, told a large group of businesspeople and educators Wednesday.

"Today, I am not sure we think that way any longer," he said. "In last month's survey of more than 1,000 Americans released by the First Amendment Center, nearly one in four Americans said the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

"Think about that."

Gallagher's remarks on the First Amendment came during a Corporate Leaders Breakfast at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. In his talk, he reviewed the 18th century roots of the amendment and gave examples of how it has been bent by presidents and invoked in current times.

A 29-year veteran of the news media, Gallagher said the nation's founders gave the press freedom from government regulation so it could help build an informed citizenry.

"Give people enough information, the founders thought, and they will find the truth," he said.

"Sadly, we have strayed from that path. We have leaders in business, government and education who think they have the right to tell us what we can read or listen to."

He cited some educators in the University of California system as examples of Americans who mock free speech. He pointed to last month's protest by 290 UC faculty members — "clearly in need of remedial training in First Amendment principles" — that successfully torpedoed a speaking engagement by former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers at a regents' function in Sacramento.

Another example was the hiring, firing and rehiring of law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, a liberal, as dean of the new law school at UC Irvine. Gallagher quoted lawyer-journalist Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition: "The best that can be said about the University of California's leaders is that they are neutral in their spinelessness."

One question from Wednesday's audience dealt with determining when Internet writers are "journalists." Gallagher replied that the First Amendment and the Internet were made for each other. People can write whatever they want.

"However, who is and who is not a journalist is murky," he said. "At this point, I find that to be a little bit troubling."

Gallagher now is an assistant to a senior vice president of E.W. Scripps Co., The Star's corporate parent. He also is establishing his own consulting business.