Introduction/ What is Free Speech?

My name is Carly and I am a senior this year hoping to graduate in the fall! I am an HCOM major with a concentration in journalism/media studies. I enjoy sports and am a HUGE SF Giants fan. I like going to the beach, going to hockey games and baseball games. So far from what we have read and discussed in class, I feel that free speech is any speech regardless of the form that it takes. There are parameters on when and where speech can be used, especially if it is offensive, but all speech is free. You can not deny someone the right to say what they want, even if you do not agree with what is being said. I am interested in finding out what all the exceptions to this rule of “Free Speech” are. I would like to know how you decide, or who gets to decide when speech is considered free and when it is not. I am also curious how free speech would be defined if what you are saying can hurt of cause harm to other individuals. I also want to know where the fine line is drawn with music, because you can cuss, talk about drugs, murder, and prostitution in songs, and rappers even use the term “nigga”. The whole idea of “Free Speech” is so vague, so who holds the authority to tell you what you can and can not say?