I have been a firm supporter of the freedoms of speech and the press my whole life. I've always said that sunlight is the best disinfectant and that the right remedy of bad ideas is open communication.
I cannot deny that my faith in that position has been badly shaken as I've seen the damage that Fox News and it's ilk have done to public discourse over the past 10 years or so. I had always assumed that most people are acting in good faith, have some degree of intellectual honesty, and are genuinely interested in pursuing the truth. Kooky viewpoints have always been around, but they didn't have the kind of resources behind them that Fox News has. I can no longer deny that it is possible to poison the public discourse.
I'm well aware that if mechanisms exists to put limits on speech or writing, then those mechanisms are only too likely to end up in the wrong hands. I'm at a loss for a solution.