Publish and be damned - free expression

"I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."This quote has been attributed to at least three different sources and irrespective of who said it first, it has come to epitomise the right of free expression in a newspaper.It is one of my favourite quotes - especially since I commenced writing this weekly column which trawls the range of middling to bad and "the 'Examiner' is gone to hell" stuff. I am sure that there must have been a few times over the past 200 plus articles when the editor wasn't deliriously jumping up and down at what appeared in "You Can't Be Serious", but in the very best tradition of freedom of expression, for which this newspaper has always stood, none have been pulled or censored. In return, this column has always encouraged the right of reply and criticism along with opposing viewpoints. The fact that I am swamped with about one favourable email every few months eggs me on! Another famous quote which I would imagine has frequently been flung around newsrooms is the one of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, who told Harriette Wilson, when she threatened to publish her memoirs and his letters, to "publish and be damned". And publish she did! I stuck that one on the wall of my office when I was writing my book, lest I balk at telling the truth.There wasn't anything in "If Ever a Man Suffered" which wasn't already known by some people in every area of my life and the compilations are what made the story. I am still receiving commendations from readers although naturally, not everybody was pleased with the end result. But at least in our culture I didn't have to go into hiding like Salman Rushdie was forced to do after his scribbling - or even have to leave town like another Westmeath author, Brinsley McNamara.Censorship has always caused controversy and debate everywhere. Most would agree that some level of control has to be in place, especially in the area of child pornography and the curtailment of paedophiles and such weirdoes. So I suppose if you read that as censorship, well then there has to be some degree of it for the common good. People tend to think that all those clamouring for censorship are right wing do-gooders, but those on the left, especially the feminist sisters, believe that anything which offends them should be censored too.Governments usually impose censorship to stifle information, while religious leaders on the other hand seek it on the grounds of moral values.Happily nowadays in this country each individual is allowed to hold his or her own moral value, which may or may not concur with the church or with Government and you can freely express that view in the letters page of newspapers such as the 'Westmeath Examiner'.The Irish Government still has wide-ranging powers of censorship, although these powers have rarely been exercised in recent years. This was not how it was during the first fifty years of the State, when any opposition to the Catholic dogma on sexuality was forbidden. In the 1960's, Archbishop McQuaid practically succeeded in having the government ban any material he saw as having any pornographic slant. Books, plays, films, poems and songs deemed to be offensive to the pure intellectual Irish palate finished up on the cutting floor. Censorship of mail was the last line of defence between this Island of Saints and Scholars and our pagan neighbours. Under the freedom of information enshrined in "publish and be damned" I can now inform you that my parents were guilty of a conspiracy to corrupt the morals of Ireland. My aunt used send me the comic books that my cousin Sean was finished with. Rolled up tightly in the centre of "The Beano" and "The Dandy" would be "The News of The World", which sometimes got past the eagle eyed customs man, but most often was confiscated and replaced with an official notice, with a harp on it, informing the addressee that printed material of an unsuitable nature had been removed.The News of The World reported mostly on divorce proceedings and illicit (bless yourself here) sex. Whenever the paper did get through, it was grabbed by my mother as fast as the bite of a snake in case we boys might manage to read a headline.It is hard to believe now that with a past like that, today my Mother is a respectable resident of the wonderful nursing home of St. Camillus in Killucan, where she numbers among her closest friends Fr. Monks and Br. John. Sadly, this disclosure will cause her to be scandalised and possibly ostracised altogether … but, "publish and be damned", Mammy!The last serious rattle at contentious censorship in Ireland was Section 31, which was passed by the Dail in 1971 and remained the law of the land for the following twenty-two years. Section 31 prohibited members of Sinn Fein from being interviewed on television, radio or in the press. We had the ludicrous situation where elected representatives could not give their opinions on roads, hospitals or such. Perhaps it seemed necessary at the time, but as has been seen since its repeal, this country's highest standards of interviewers and reporters did more good in undermining the policies of these spokespeople than ever did section 31. Legislation which prohibits free speech infringes upon our right to freedom of expression. The greatest concern now is the amount of stuff hidden behind political correctness and what the majority cannot say in case it might be regarded as racist.This country brought in a new law last year on Blasphemy. I know nothing about it - but I don't like the sound of it.The Westmeath Examiner was first published in 1882. The format of the paper has changed many times over the years. Always changing, but always staying the same …"publish and be damned"!Don't ForgetNewspapers are owned by individuals and groups, but freedom of the press belongs to the people.