The 21st annual Free Speech Week has come and gone, and even before this week, a new tone has been set in America. The chord that was struck is still sounding with a clarion call for America to return to its roots—grounded in the natural law, and in liberty.
We all heard it, but it became crystallized when one man paid the ultimate price for America’s first principles. The Media Research Center recognized numerous individuals across the political sphere this week, but none were more deserving than the late Turning Point USA founder and MRC Free Speech America Board Advisor Charlie Kirk. Kirk died for his bold, unapologetic proclamation of the truth that stemmed from his Christian faith and conservative principles—a martyr in our time. That is why the Media Research Center was proud to honor him with the 2025 MRC Free Speech Award.
MRC President David Bozell put it this way in an Op-Ed on the Daily Wire:
“The MRC presents this award during Free Speech Week, a national celebration that reminds Americans what separates us from every other nation on earth. Without the right to speak freely, there can be no democracy, no Republic, no America. Yet we now live in a time when many citizens no longer believe in that right. Some even view the First Amendment as a danger to the nation itself.
“Charlie saw that storm coming. He warned that the Left’s growing intolerance would not stop at censorship, but would escalate into the criminalization of ‘wrongthink.’ He said, ‘Leftists in the Western world want to criminalize wrongthink… This can only end badly if we don’t stop it first.’ Those words were not rhetoric. They were prophecy.
“Charlie understood the connection between speech and civilization. He knew that free expression is not a privilege granted by government but a moral necessity that allows truth to prevail over power. He also recognized that the modern threat did not come from a single politician or newsroom, but from a coordinated network of tech companies, bureaucrats, and cultural elites seeking to control the flow of information.”
Yet Kirk has not stood alone in this fight for freedom. There are others who have taken up the mantle to fight for liberty, guarded by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. MRC recognized many of them during this Free Speech Week as well.
And Americans are waking up.
As reported on MRC NewsBusters, an Oct. 2 Gallup poll shows that trust in the overtly leftist biased news media has fallen to another new low. From the report:
“When Gallup began the survey in 1972, 7 in 10 adults had either a ‘fair amount’ (50%) or ‘great deal’ (18%) of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.
“Today, 7 [in] 10 have either ‘not very much’ confidence (36%) or ‘none at all’ (34%).”
And there’s more good news: Americans are beginning to value the First Amendment again.
According to the National Speech Index, research conducted by the Dartmouth Polarization Research Lab between April 4 and April 11, 2025, 50-plus percent of Americans surveyed said that the statement, “The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees,” “[d]oes not describe my thoughts at all.” This is up over four percent from January 3-9, 2025—while former President Joe Biden was still in office.
Much credit is due to the Trump administration, for rallying the Republican-led government, and even the left—albeit for all the wrong reasons—back to a pro-free speech position after years of the Biden regime, in coordination with Big Tech, doing all that they could to throttle expression that ran counter to their preferred narrative.
MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider put it this way:
“Fortunately, President Trump has launched a massive effort to restore free speech rights for all Americans. He and his appointees have reversed over 75% of Biden’s 57 censorship initiatives to date. ... Biden’s unprecedented assault on free speech rights has been met with Trump’s equally-robust defense of these rights.”
America was at a turning point, and the pivot is underway. MRC is proud to have recognized those working to better our nation through the promotion of open discourse rather than censorship, and we will continue to hold Big Tech and government to account when America’s first freedoms are put in danger. The fight for freedom continues.
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
