Freedom of Speech in France and America

Earlier this summer, we partnered with The Cultural Services of the French Embassy on a pair of programs comparing the freedoms of religion and speech in France and in the United States, and how those freedoms are protected in the two countries. In this program, a panel of experts from both countries explores how freedom of speech and press as guaranteed by the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen differs from freedom of speech and press in America under the First Amendment of the Constitution—as well as how laws and courts in both countries protect those rights and address issues over controversial speech. National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Marc-Olivier Bherer, staff editor and reporter for the French daily Le Monde and Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the 2021 class; Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America and author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All; Geoffrey Stone, professor at the University of Chicago Law School; and Hélène Tigroudja, law professor at Aix-Marseille University in France and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

This panel was streamed live on June 1, 2021.

Check out another program from our partnership with the French embassy, “Religious Liberty in France and America,” and more programs on free speech in our Media Library at constitutioncenter.org/constitution.

Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library.

Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].