Speakers' Corner

A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Speakers here may talk on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although this right is not restricted to Speakers' Corner only. Contrary to popular belief, there is no immunity from the law, nor are any subjects proscribed, but in practice the police tend to be tolerant and therefore intervene only when they receive a complaint. On some occasions in the past, they have intervened on grounds of profanity. Historically there were a number of other areas designated as Speakers' Corners in other parks in London (e.g., Lincoln's Inn Fields Finsbury Park, Clapham Common, Kennington Park, and Victoria Park). More recently they have been set up in other British cities, and there are also Speakers' Corners in other countries.

Hyde Park

Though Hyde Park Speakers' Corner is considered the paved area closest to Marble Arch, legally the public speaking area extends beyond the Reform Tree and covers a large area from Marble Arch to Victoria Gate, then along the Serpentine to Hyde Park Corner and the Broad Walk running from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch.

Speakers' Corner (disambiguation)

A Speakers' Corner is an outdoor area for public speaking, it may also refer to:

Speakers' Corner (TV series)

Speakers' Corner is a television series that aired weekly on Citytv and A (formerly A-Channel) stations in Canada, later CTV Two) from 1990 to 2008, featuring numerous short segments on a variety of topics as recorded by members of the general public in the form of rants, big-ups, shoutouts, jokes, music performances, etc. After the video was complete, it was edited for television. The show was an example of Citytv founder Moses Znaimer's philosophy of interactive broadcasting, and essentially created what some 21st-century media outlets would retroactively label as a precursor to YouTube.

History

Speakers' Corner began in 1990 with a video booth outside the Citytv studios in Toronto. The booth's original intent was for viewers to record news commentary and "letter to the editor" segments for broadcast on CityPulse, but the booth soon proved so popular, with many segments being recorded that fell far outside the initial concept, that the decision was soon made to create a full half-hour weekly series. Segments that were relevant in a news context continued to appear on CityPulse, and entertainment-oriented segments also sometimes appeared on other CHUM television outlets, such as MuchMusic and Space, as interstitials.