More thoughts on Fox News

I immediately thought of our conversation from last class about Fox News from an early passage of Ch. 3. Mill claims, "An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn-dealer, or when handed among the same mob in the form of a placard" (57). Which category would Fox News fall into? It would need to fall into the second in order to justify it being shut down by Mill's standards. While no, Fox News' audience is not an angry mob, with 24 hours of programing, the audience does become saturated with ideas and opinions that can incite it towards actions. The distinction Mill seems to make is that there should be freedom of expression, but when this expression incites actions that are harmful to others, this is when it is justifiably punishable. So the question is, do the opinions that Fox News continuously spout cause it audience to engage in actions that are harmful to other people? If this is the case, then I say down with Fox News and I think Mill would agree. If it does not, however, no matter how irksome and obnoxious I find it, I can not condone any actions taken to silence it.