Awarding the Muzzles

They're called the Jefferson Muzzle Awards. You don't want to win one.\nI'd never heard about them until last week, but the idea is really quite brilliant. Reserved for a handful of the most egregious violators of free speech, each year since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has issued the Muzzles as a way to "censure the censors." (Jefferson famously said freedom of speech "cannot be limited without being lost.")\nAnyone is eligible -- politicians, school boards, judges, media outlets, etc. The honors are awarded without regard to ideology under the wise and correct standard that suppressing any speech from any point on the political spectrum is wrong. Winners receive a complimentary T-shirt with a picture of the third president and a black censor bar covering his mouth. \nThis year's recipients were an eclectic bunch. CBS Television garnered its third Muzzle award in nine years for applying a double standard to the commercials purchased for Superbowl time. Although CBS allowed a number of public service announcements, the station denied liberal advocacy group MoveOn and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals the chance to purchase airtime.\nAdditionally, TJC cited the mishandling of the controversial mini-series "The Reagans." After criticism that the mini-series was unsympathetic and unflattering to President Reagan and his wife, the network moved the series to Showtime, a premium cable channel owned by CBS parent company Viacom.\nAlso recognized was the U.S. Secret Service, deserving of a Muzzle on two different occasions. Over the past few years at rallies and speeches, protesters of President Bush and his policies have been restricted to remote and ironic "designated free speech zones." Recently, a retired Pennsylvania steelworker was arrested and detained after refusal to move to the protest zone. (Similar incidents have occurred in 11 other states.)\nSecondly, the Secret Service investigated conservative cartoonist Michael Ramirez of the Los Angeles Times. Ramirez drew a cartoon in the summer of 2003 based on a famous photo from the Vietnam War in which a South Vietnamese officer is seen shooting a Viet Cong officer in civilian clothes. In the update, Ramirez, an avid Bush supporter, indicated the men are in Iraq, and a man with "politics" written on his back is aiming the gun at a caricature of Bush.\nAstute enough not to realize the cartoon was supporting Bush and claiming the president had become, in Ramirez's words, a "target of political assassination," the Secret Service believed Ramirez might have threatened the president's life.\n(Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., accused the Secret Service of showing "profoundly bad judgment" and insisted Ramirez deserved an immediate apology.)\nThese are only two of the many Muzzles given out this year and only a few of the many examples of suppressed speech. In a terrorism world, battles over speech are more precarious and contentious than ever, but a fine line must be observed in order to protect freedom and balance safety. \nTJC's mission statement is to see the Muzzles "are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment."\nI'm unsure how much national exposure the Muzzles will get (an unsatisfactory amount is my guess), but I hope they do create more of an appreciation for our freedoms.\nIn its creation of the Muzzle awards, outing free speech violators on the left and the right, the Thomas Jefferson Center has done an important service for America.\nA complete list of Muzzles can be read at the TJC Web site, www.tjcenter.org.