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Ice-T & Time Warner Case

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Clifton Smith Business Ethics
Nov. 1, 2012 Ice-T and Time Warner Case

Amendment I

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.

Ice T 's Introduction: "This next record is dedicated to some personal friends of mine, the LAPD. For every cop that has ever taken advantage of somebody, beat 'em down or hurt 'em, because they got long hair, listen to the wrong kinda music, wrong color, whatever they thought was the reason to do it. For every one of …show more content…

'em.”). Killing policemen is a good thing, that is the plain meaning of the words, and no larger understanding of a neglected culture, the rage of the streets or anything else can explain it away. As in much of today 's popular music, the line between performer and performance is purposely blurred. These are political sermons clearly intended to endorse the sentiments being expressed Time Warner states, “We stand for creative freedom. We believe that the worth of what an artist or journalist has to say does not depend on pre-approval from a government official or a corporate censor.” Of course Ice-T has the right to say whatever he wants. But that doesn 't require any company to provide him an outlet. And it doesn 't relieve a company of responsibility for the messages it chooses to promote. Judgment is not censorship. Many an anguished cry goes unrecorded. This one was recorded, and promoted, because a successful artist under contract wanted to record it. There is nothing wrong with making money, but a company cannot take the money and run from the responsibility. No commercial enterprise need agree with every word that appears under its corporate imprimatur. Time Warner intends to be ‘a global force for encouraging the confrontation of ideas,’ but a policy of allowing diverse viewpoints is not a moral free pass. Pro and con on national health care is one thing; pro and con on killing policemen is

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