To the editor:

The Supreme Court decision to support the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to free speech ultimately provides a important guarantee of our liberty.

But there must be limits, both in the hateful language of a small group of hecklers like those in the March 5 Record cartoon, and especially in the public domain of newscasting.

Our Canadian neighbors, for example, have rejected coverage of Fox News because it does not square with the Canada Radio Act that requires that “a licenser may not broadcast … any false or misleading news.” (See http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/9037-fox-

news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada.html.) And this would presumably apply to the radical left newscasters as well, if they were equally libelous.

I want to believe that we on Whidbey and across the U.S. can expect, if not require, civil discourse and news coverage marked by civility, modesty, honesty and collegiality such as our neighbors enjoy. Clearly, Canada shows that it is possible to limit injurious and libelous free speech without undermining democratic freedoms.

The alternative to regulation, whether self or governmental, is that we on Whidbey or nationally must endure corrosive, vitriolic name-calling and lies. I would like to think that we Americans deserve better than that in our civil discourse, and especially across the airways.

Tom Ewell

Clinton