McSlarrow: First Amendment Is Shield, Not Sword

Accepting the Media Institute's First Amendment, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said the trend lines in the daily battle of ideas are not comforting.

He suggested that in that battle, his opponents are using the First Amendment, when they are thinking about it at all, as a sword in the hands of government to promote their values, rather then the shield he believes it should be against "government encroachment." That observation drew applause from the media execs in the crowd. He pointed out that the Media Institute does not have the funding to match a lot of other organizations and think tanks, and that the Progress & Freedom Foundation, another Washington-based First Amendment/free market think tank, had just shut its doors due in part to lack of funding. He contrasted that with "large donors and philanthropic groups" pouring "millions of dollar"s into groups and organizations that have "a very different view of how they would shape the media and telecommunications landscape."