NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Not surprisingly, I'm a big First Amendment-kind-of-guy. So I questioned the action of the New York Stock Exchange in kicking representatives of al Jazeera, the Arab-language news network, off its floor. I hold no brief for al Jazeera, but I like the idea of showing capitalism in action to the Arab world.

And I must confess that except for snippets here and there, I haven't seen much of what al Jazeera does, although I do think the pictures of dead American soldiers and dazed prisoners it showed over and over last weekend were not proper.

This morning, though, I attended a forum on how the media in general is covering the war in Iraq. It was conducted by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and the moderator was Floyd Abrams, the nation's leading First Amendment lawyer.

What he said about al Jazeera made me rethink my views. Here's a direct quote:

"Having heard representatives of al Jazeera describe its supposed journalistic decisions and having seen many examples of what it offers, it is ever clearer that al Jazeera is, at its core, not a television news outlet but a propaganda tool, an entity that holds itself out as engaging in journalism but which fails virtually every journalistic test except pleasing some of its viewers by playing to their prejudices."

That's pretty tough stuff, especially coming from Floyd Abrams.

He's got me rethinking my original reaction that any obstacle to media access is bad. But I have mixed feelings. First, what is the media? These days it can be anything from the Wall Street Journal and CNN to the National Enquirer and a web blog from an obscure source. The NYSE says only broadcasters engaged in "responsible business coverage" are allowed on its trading floor. But who defines "responsible?"

The exchange, of course, can set its own rules. An official told me that two applicants for floor access were denied access in recent months because there just wasn't enough room to accommodate them. But al Jazeera was already there.

There has been resentment from some Big Board staffers and members to the presence of al Jazeera since the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. But the exchange hasn't taken away its reporters' floor credentials till now. I think the explanation of over-crowding is rather lame. Why not say it's not considered a "responsible" news organization, and be prepared to take the heat?

Now the exchange has a very responsible First Amendment authority to bolster its case. As Floyd Abrams went on to say, "The fact that (al Jazeera) is not governmentally run understandably gives it more credibility. Yet, the more credible it is viewed as being, the more distressing its impact is."

I like to recall Gresham's Law from my Economics 101 days, which states that bad money drives out good. That could apply to journalism as well, and could be part of the Big Board's rationale.This was a tough call for the exchange. But these are tough times for all of us. Let's hope this will be an isolated case.  

Myron Kandel is CNN Financial Editor and a commentator on CNNfn.