Free Speech is Being Challenged This Day

   Freedom of speech is being challenged today. YouTube and Facebook and others were wrong in taking down posts by Stella Immanuel and a group calling itself America's Frontline Doctors.
   The posts went viral last night and today, only to be scrubbed. Immanuel and the doctors had held a  national press conference to declare that hydroxychloroquine works.
   Is that so wrong? Supposing these really are doctors, their opinions should not be muzzled. Actually, even if they are not doctors, and even if it was a fabrication, it should be allowed to remain up, though flagged or tagged with correcting information.
   You don't need to wear facemasks, Dr. Immanuel said. We have in hydroxychloroquine, together with zithromax and zinc, a cure for COVID-19. No one needs to die. The websites might be taking the posts down because they say that is false information. But, those are opinions. The doctors should be allowed to express them.
   I am greatly disturbed with the suppression of free speech. In a day past, had a group of doctors gathered for a press conference to announce their beliefs, would what they said have had greater chance of being dutifully reported? Would the news stations simply have balanced what they said with the more accepted belief of the larger medical community? Would the news stations have gathered the names of the participants, verified them as bonafide doctors, and then have run the story? Would what the doctors said would have been reported with a greater degree of respect?
   Actually, I don't know if in the age before the Internet, the media would have turned out for the press conference. But in this day, anyone can have their press conference and then post it on YouTube.
   So, what of the press conference being removed -- scrubbed from YouTube and from Facebook and other places? These sites have become part of free speech. If you must link corrections or denials or whatever with the posts, do so. But, generally the content, itself, should stand. The video from America's Frontline Doctors should have been allowed to stay up.
   Dr. Immanuel does not work at a run-of-the-mill hospital. She began working at Rehobath Medical Center, which she owns, in 2019. That does lessen her credentials. That is not one of the large hospitals in the Houston area. Still, she is a licensed medical provider. I do not know of the credentials of the other doctors. Dr. Immanuel is a clergy person, as well, and does have some off-beat believes. Let those be part of the public record, part of what is reported.
   But, don't suppress free speech. If one authority believes hydroxychloroquine works, and another doesn't, both opinions should be allowed to be expressed.

(Edited and parts rewritten 7-29-20)