Laura Leets

About the author: Laura Leets is an assistant professor of communications at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Very limited restrictions of hate speech on the Internet should be considered because such speech can have serious short-term and long-term consequences. Among the effects of hate speech is the encouragement of racist and sexist beliefs that can culminate in violence. However, it may be difficult to determine how best to regulate hate expression on the Internet because cyberspace has no geographic boundaries; laws that are valid in one state or nation may be unenforceable elsewhere.

There's been a groundswell [since the late 1990s] to increase diversity in journalism, both in news coverage and in newsroom staffing. The goal of several diversity initiatives is to increase the number of voices...