TRI In The News

Whitehead: No Place for Censorship in Free Society

6/6/2011

TRI IN THE NEWS: WHITEHEAD: NO PLACE FOR CENSORSHIP IN FREE SOCIETY

From OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

Union County, New Jersey, is the subject of a lawsuit over free-speech rights.

The Rutherford Institute filed the suit on behalf of Tina Renna, who hosts a public access television show during which she reviews the county's meetings and often criticizes officials' decisions. Institute founder John Whitehead tells OneNewsNow some of the county's elected officials do not approve of her show.

"Behind her [during the program], she has the seal of...Union County in New Jersey, and [she] has a spotlight on it," he reports. "Now she's been threatened by the county, by their lawyers, saying that she has to take that down because the county owns a trademark on that particular county seal, and therefore, she can't have it on her show anymore."

The lawsuit contends Renna has a right to display the county seal, just as anybody has a right to use a government symbol.

"It's protected by the First Amendment. It would be the same as if the White House was to say you couldn't use the presidential seal behind you or [if] they were to say that you can't use the American flag behind you because they have a trademark on it," he compares, adding that "it's ridiculous."

Whitehead concludes the case "represents a grotesque violation of our First Amendment right to free expression, and government officials should know better because such censorship has no place in a free society."