Whenever free speech becomes regulated, blocked, or criminalized, you no longer have free speech. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the leftist newspaper Star Tribune is pushing for the criminalization of First Amendment auditing. While one might think that the longest-running newspaper in Minnesota might know something about the ‘Right to Free Press’, they clearly need a Constitutional lesson.

First Amendment text: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment auditing is essentially an individual who films themselves and/or others in government buildings or other public areas. This activity has become popularized on YouTube and other social media and is an umbrella term that could be citizen journalists looking for answers, individuals looking to provoke an arrest to file a lawsuit calling the arrest unjustified, individuals looking to provoke the public/police to the limit of threat of arrest, satirized auditing, and sovereign citizens. On one hand it can expose a power-hungry, nit-picky government official but on the other hand, it is putting random people in an uncomfortable position for no reason other than getting their reaction. Some channels, like Long Island Audit, do great videos reminding officers and other government employees that the public has a right to audit them with a camera on property owned by taxpayers. Of course bad apples exist too which busy-bodies use as examples to justify why anti-free speech laws are necessary.

As to be expected, many people do not want to be filmed in public and have negative reactions to it. Filming someone without permission, regardless of being on private or public property, feels like an invasion of privacy to some and often the longer it goes on, the angrier the person being filmed gets. To make matters more frustrating, sometimes the filmers/auditors will choose to be masked to remain semi-anonymous and act extremely inconsiderate to trigger people for social media content.

In this case, Karen Tolkkinen from the Star Tribune wrote an article discussing a recent First Amendment audit video that took place in Albert Lea, MN and suggests people who do this be fined or arrested. The individual wore a mask to conceal his identity as he filmed a row of businesses hosting a community sale and would not speak when people approached him to ask why he was filming them. Long story short, he was attempting to provoke people and get them angry by silently filming them so the cops come and say he is allowed to film.

When the individual would speak, it would be things like “You have no expectation of privacy in public” and was clearly freaking some people out with his behavior.

All of this kept in mind, rude or unwanted filming in public is protected under the First Amendment. It would be a massive mistake to give a bloated government more power to police speech, public recordings/press, or other activities protected under the First Amendment. Minnesota already has a hate speech/hate crime database and Democrats like Tim Walz look to censor their opponents by applying labels like “disinformation” or “conspiracy theory” or “hate speech” on speech that is politically inconvenient or is actually true.

Speech you don’t like is free speech. Speech the Star Tribune doesn’t like is free speech. Speech that is hateful is free speech. Speech only becomes criminal (or punishable on civil penalties) when it incites violence or mass panic, is defamatory, or is harassing. 

The Star Tribune should know better than to push a policy objective that undermines our Bill of Rights and the Right to free speech and free press. Keep in mind, the liberal media warned President Trump was going to lock up journalists. Now, they want to criminalize certain forms of free press. Unfortunately, major corporate media like the Star Tribune completely conformed to the left and far from neutral and unbiased. The Star Tribune also knows that their access to politicians and government buildings will never be challenged like other regular citizens.

Unintended consequences of criminalizing individuals filming events in public would erode our Constitution and could be used selectively by those in power. While the creator of the YouTube video serves as a poor example of wielding free speech, it is none-the-less protected. Arbitrary judgments cannot determine how society is governed.

And of course, the creator of the YouTube video is going to have a hay-day with the fact that a woman named Karen is writing about him in the Star Tribune about his video titled “Recording Karens On The Sidewalk”. Karen also ridiculously suggests that people carry “collapsible privacy sheets” to block their face and even says it should read “Go play in traffic” (suggesting Karen wants First Amendment auditors to die). If Karen is to be commended for anything in her article it is her shaming of the filmer wearing a mask, it's about time the Star Tribune takes a stand against masks!

While the Star Tribune will continue to pretend to be neutral while subliminally or openly pushing the leftist agenda, keep in mind that the Star Tribune is run by billionaire Glen Taylor who previously was the Republican Minority Leader in the state Senate. The corruption in our state will never be fully exposed by the Star Tribune because they are controlled by the Uniparty.

Unlike the Star and Sickle, Action 4 Liberty lays out our biases upfront. We want a limited government that adheres to its basic Constitutional obligations and our mission is to protect liberty for the next generation. We understand that it is not just the speech that we like that needs protecting, it is also the speech we don’t like. With this in mind, Karen and the Star Tribune have every right to debate this idea but the government has zero right to implement it. A4L will continue to lead and stand shoulder to shoulder with the grassroots conservative movement to preserve freedom in Minnesota.