Is “Free” Speech Compatible with Responsible Debate?

Many public bodies aspire to foster free and responsible debate about contentious issues of public concern. And several institutions are legally obliged do this well, e.g. public media, universities, cultural bodies. However, we are all too familiar with the difficulty of meeting this obligation. In this project, academic research about the role and prospect for responsible public debate will be used as the basis for scoping and analysing existing practice around freedom of expression in a number of public institutions. This will then feed into an analytical report on these practices which is meant to shape future policy that encourages best practice in fostering free and responsible public debate.