You Don't Have a First Amendment Right to a Television Show

[DonViejo]

By Matthew Yglesias

Gov. Bobby Jindal ✔ @BobbyJindal
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I remember when TV networks believed in the First Amendment. http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&catID=2&articleID=4374 …
9:35 AM - 19 Dec 2013

The only relevant First Amendment issue here is that A&E has a constitutional right to make its own decisions about what kind of programming it wants to air without bullying by the governor of Louisiana. The First Amendment very much does not prevent private firms from declining to air certain kinds of content that they think will alienate their audience, or private citizens from engaging in organized criticism of private broadcasters who don't bend to their will.

At times this power can be used for ill, as when NBC executives feared that local affiliates in the South would refuse to air the "Plato's Stepchildren" episode of Star Trek. But there, too, the real First Amendment problem would be if the Johnson administration somehow tried to force NBC to make shows depicting interracial kisses.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/12/19/duck_dynasty_and_the_1st_amendent.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content

[Gothmog]

1. The First Amendment only applies to State Actors

Unless there is a governmental entity involved in the censorship decision, the First Amendment does not apply. The First Amendment only applies to censorship done by a federal, state or local governmental entity and does not apply to private parties such TV networks. This is basic constitutional law.

[arcane1]

2. "Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be"

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-passionate-defender-of-what-he-imagines-c,2849/


This one never gets old

[Gothmog]

3. Here is a good explanation of the state actor requirement

Here is a brief explanation of this requirement from Cornell Law School http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/state_action_requirement

The state action requirement stems from the fact that the constitutional amendments which protect individual rights (especially the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment) are mostly phrased as prohibitions against government action. For example, the First Amendment states that “[c]ongress shall make no law” infringing upon the freedoms of speech and religion. Because of this requirement, it is impossible for private parties (citizens or corporations) to violate these amendments, and all lawsuits alleging constitutional violations of this type must show how the government (state or federal) was responsible for the violation of their rights. This is referred to as the state action requirement.