Out with free speech and in with censorship.

Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, believes it is a “fireable offense” to state your opinion when you work on a news network.

Jemele Hill, a news anchor on Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), tweeted that the President was a white supremacist. This caused quite an uproar within the sports and political community; this lead to a reporter asking Sanders how Trump had reacted, earning the response that it was a “fireable offense.” That statement radically contradicts the first Amendment of the Constitution by stating that a news reporter is not allowed to state their opinion.

“ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth,” the United States President Donald Trump tweeted earlier on Friday in response to the ESPN news anchor stating her own opinion of the President. Hill apologized for publicly stating her opinions on air and ESPN accepted the apology.

A reporter asked Sanders what Trump’s reaction to the original statement was. “ESPN has been hypocritical… they should hold anchors to a fair and consistent standard,” said Sanders. She then went on to state that it was one of the “more outrageous comments one could make. It’s certainly something that is a fireable offense by ESPN.”

That one fateful line holds real weight in the real world. The line “fireable offense” is one of – in Sanders’ words – the more outrageous comments one could make. In fact, the idea that one could be fired simply due to tweeting their opinion strictly goes against the very first amendment to the Constitution.

This “outrageous” tweet was not a threat on Trump’s life nor was it, in any sense of the words, a “fireable offense.” The tweet stated, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”

As a journalist, stories like this one always get under my skin. The first amendment is so key and crucial to everything that is America, the great, the beautiful, the free. We have grown used to it, but not every country is allowed to speak so publicly against the leaders of their country without facing fatal consequences. Those in countries like North Korea, Libya and Cuba are not allowed to speak openly against their government.

The idea that a joke making fun of Trump or a disagreement with one of his statements can now dictate your life and whether or not you have a job is where we begin to become exactly like the countries we can “totally destroy.”

Looking at the bigger picture, this isn’t just about a tweet. It’s never just about something as small as a tweet. This is about the freedom to disagree with and criticize the actions of the president. It’s funny; the country that is known for its freedom is now having an internal fight over freedoms.

In fact, this entire fight between ESPN and the White House is about freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Once you start censoring people simply due to your dislike of their words, you start to create a world taken over by fake and biased media. You only get one side of the story and then you become a country like North Korea.

Jemele Hill expressing her opinion on social media is the quintessential example of exercising your first amendment right. People are allowed to state their opinions. They shouldn’t have to fear backlash from the government for simply stating an opinion that isn’t a threat.