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The Media Institute is handing out free speech awards on Wednesday to NBC’s Lester Holt and filmmaker Ken Burns despite recent evidence they aren’t exactly First Amendment absolutists.
Holt will be given the Media Institute’s Freedom of Speech Award, while Burns is set to receive the American Horizon Award during a virtual "Free Speech America" gala.
Our America, an organization dedicated to promoting patriotism and fundamental American values, including free speech, doesn’t believe the Media Institute is honoring the appropriate people.
Gabriel Nadales, Our America’s western region national director, believes those who want to ban "hate speech" and "misinformation" are actually giving powerful people the ability to restrict speech in general, which is "more dangerous to democracy than any lie or insult." He believes Holt and Burns both fall into this category and are essentially "censorship proponents" getting awards they don’t deserve.
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NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt once said the notion of giving two sides "equal weight" was outdated. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
"Lester Holt has actively sought the censorship of political ads on Facebook and believes that people who peddle ‘misinformation’ should be denied a platform. Ken Burns’ visionary leadership apparently includes the censorship of Americans on social media. To me, these do not seem like people who deserve awards at a gala that is supposedly celebrating free speech," Nadales told Fox News Digital.
"True free-speech warriors aren't popular because they are willing to defend unpopular speech," Nadales continued. "But unpopular speech is what makes the country grow, because unpopular opinions are either one day adopted as the norm or they help society by challenging its assumptions, so people can better defend their values."
Nadales suggested free speech lawyer Greg Lukianoff would have been a better choice because he "fights for the right of students to speak freely." He also believes former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss would have been more suited because she is "willing to stand up to publishing giants for what she believes," and Daryl Davis would have been a respectable choice because he uses open dialogue to confront KKK extremists to convince them to abandon their hateful ideologies.
Instead, the awards will go to Holt and Burns, who have both essentially called for Facebook to silence and censor some of its users.
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Holt expressed fear over Facebook’s refusal to censor political ads that would allow candidates to use false talking points during a 2019 interview with Mark Zuckerberg when he asked, "Do you feel like you’re giving a green light to politicians that lie, lie, lie?"
Zuckerberg responded that he felt it’s important to hear every candidate’s messages and Americans can scrutinize the rhetoric themselves.
"I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy," Zuckerberg said.
Part of the reason why so many conservatives object to Facebook censorship of any kind is that who decides what's true can be a fraught issue, such as when Twitter and Facebook suppressed discussion of Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop back when media figures on the left falsely insisted it was Russian disinformation.
Burns, an award-winning filmmaker and historian, called Zuckerberg "an enemy of the state" who belongs in jail during a 2021 appearance on the New York Times’ "Sway" podcast.
"This is an enemy of the state, and I mean the United States of America. He doesn’t give a s--- about us, the United States," Burns said. "He knows he can transcend it. He can get away to any place. And so it’s just about filthy lucre, that’s it."
Filmmaker Ken Burns is set to receive the American Horizon Award during a virtual "Free Speech America" gala. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
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The "NBC Nightly News" anchor hasn’t only called for censorship of political ads. Holt also famously claimed in 2021 that reporters don’t need to hear both sides of a story before determining the "truth" when accepting an award at the 45th Murrow Symposium.
"I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated... the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in," Holt said.
"That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention," Holt continued. "Decisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda, in fact, it’s just the opposite."
Holt declared "providing an open platform for misinformation, for anyone to come say whatever they want, especially when issues of public health and safety are at stake, can be quite dangerous," before asserting the duty of reporters is to be "fair to the truth."
Holt’s remarks were praised by the far left, but critics saw his comments as essentially a dog whistle to liberal reporters who see themselves as the arbiters of truth and, therefore, can cover the news from a one-sided perspective with the approval of NBC's top anchor. Some didn't think Holt’s remarks apply to the modern world where outspoken liberals are often working as journalists.
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"In a better world in which the mainstream major media had a history of fairness and non-partisanship, Holt's point that journalism inherently involves filtering information might make sense. This is not such a better world, this is a world in which the mainstream major media wears its partisanship on its sleeve, manipulating the news cycle to the advantage of Democrats," Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News at the time. "In the real world, Holt's advice simply justifies media political bias."
Our America’s Barrington Martin II doesn’t agree with Holt’s comments, but is happy to live in a nation that allows all forms of rhetoric.
"We must understand that all speech of any kind comes with its own set of consequences, but speech should never be prohibited. No matter how inconceivably grotesque a person's rhetoric may be, I will always acknowledge and adhere to their right to speak it, because once they can be silenced this means we all can be silenced as well," Martin II told Fox News Digital.
"Even when leaders actively attempt to mislead others, censoring that person is never the answer, because in most cases censorship only further radicalizes their supporters. The best way to confront incorrect information is to tackle it head on and expose why it’s incorrect," he continued. "The best remedy to hateful and misleading speech isn’t less speech, it’s more speech."
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham believes Holt receiving the award is more about "sticking it" to Republicans and conservatives.
"Handing a Freedom of Speech award to Lester Holt, who accepted his last journalism honor with the concept ‘fairness is overrated,’ implies that this award isn't really for free speech, it's for liberal bias," Graham told Fox News Digital, before noting he’s not exactly a fan of Burns, either.
"Anyone who thinks Ken Burns is a 'visionary' must not have seen him comparing Ron DeSantis sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard with the Holocaust. That's not visionary, that's a toxic Pants On Fire lie," Graham said, referring to the liberal filmmaker recently agreeing with a CNN host who said relocating illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard followed similar themes of authoritarianism found in Nazi Germany.
The Media Institute is a nonprofit foundation "specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment," according to its website.
The institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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