Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History & Education board member Sue Kemnitzer chats with Missouri School of Journalism faculty member Kathy Kiely, following Kiely’s lecture in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History & Education on September 14. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For acclaimed journalist and Missouri School of Journalism faculty member Kathy Kiely, the U.S. Constitution has proven an integral part of her work, throughout her career.

“Being a journalist, and I’m proud of being a journalist, it does give me a certain vested interest, if not expertise, in the Constitution,” Kiely said. “Journalists depend upon the Constitution, and I’d like to think we defend it.”

Kiely presented the 19th Annual Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the U.S. Constitution in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History & Education on September 14.

Kiely carefully explained that the U.S. is currently in uncharted territory in what she termed the “third information revolution.” The first information revolution, she noted, began in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press. The second information revolution started in 1844, with the sending of the first telegraphic message by Samuel F. B. Morse, which enabled news to be spread around the globe in a matter of minutes. The third, and current, information revolution largely came to be with the introduction of the internet.

“In 1996, President Bill Clinton, running for a second term, signed a major telecommunications act. It included a then-little noticed, but now famous, clause — Section 230,” Kiely said. “This was a bipartisan initiative sponsored by two West Coast lawmakers. Aware of the fledgling internet and seeing it as a promising means of communication, they didn’t want the baby strangled in the cradle by red tape and the expenses of a libel law. They were worried there would be a failure to launch, if internet service providers had to operate under the same legal framework as legacy media providers — newspaper and radio and TV broadcasters. Section 230 effectively exempts internet service providers from liability for the material users post on their networks.”

Attendees of the 19th Annual Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the U.S. Constitution enjoy refreshments after the lecture in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History & Education lobby on September 14. Tabitha Johnston

This clause, Kiely noted, has enabled the misapplication of the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the freedom of speech, allowing anyone to publish anything online, without being held accountable for the information’s accuracy. A number of catastrophic events have already occurred because of this clause, including the planting of a campaign of ethnic hate and misinformation in Myanmar that resulted in a mass genocide of the Rohingya people in 2017 and the misinformation that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“People who say the first amendment should be absolute — it’s never been absolute! There has always been some kind of restrictions. If you want to go up and make a racist speech, you could stand right here and do that, but that doesn’t mean we have to put you on the internet,” Kiely said. “When you do this kind of loathsome stuff on the internet, you can be anonymous. You don’t have to own your opinion. That’s a check and a balance, if you have to own your opinion.”

Kiely said she supported the reworking of legislation to place a checks and balances process in place online.

“This lecture series was started by Tom Moses’ three daughters. It was launched by Senator Robert Byrd in 2005. We’ve had some very remarkable speakers over the years,” said Byrd Center Interim Director Ray Smock.

Kiely’s name can now be added to the top of that list, as one of the event’s most remarkable speakers, according to one of Moses’ three daughters, Lynn Yellott.

“She was exceptional,” Yellott said. “This series is very important to continue, to highlight history and preserve my father’s legacy.”

According to Smock, Moses made a noticeable difference in the world around him, throughout his life.

“The thing I admired about Tom Moses’ career, was that he exemplified what citizenship is all about, nationally and in this community,” Smock said about the Eastern Panhandle American Civil Liberties Union founder and decorated World War II veteran. “It is the kind of citizenship that gives strength to democracy, and boy do we need that!”