All hail MTV. But you won’t hear me doing it.

The mega-hip music network begins its yearlong “Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination” campaign Wednesday evening.

The fight commences at 8 p.m. with “Anatomy of a Hate Crime,” the story behind the 1998 attack and murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay University of Wyoming student.

The story will be followed at 9:30 p.m. with a live half-hour discussion of how hate affects youths, led by John Norris, a friend of Shepard’s and member of the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

At 10 p.m., MTV starts airing 17 commercial-free hours of celebrities reading accounts of hundreds of hate crimes that have taken place across the country. The all-night kickoff is to be followed by similar specials throughout the year.

While MTV should be commended for taking a bold stand in the cause for human rights, I question the network’s commitment.

In the same blazing breath it screams to stop the hate, it endlessly rekindles the fire by giving hateful music the television spotlight - no matter what words get “bleeped” out.

Example: Notorious rapper Eminem, who again became the center of controversy following the Jan. 3 Grammy Award nomination announcements.

He received four nominations, including one for the prestigious album of the year award for “The Marshall Mathers LP,” which contains venomous messages about homosexuals and women. Last year, the rapper picked up two Grammys.

Since the announcements, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the group that hands out the Grammys, has come under fire for doling out so many nominations to Eminem.

In Eminem’s lyrics, he fantasizes about raping his own mother and jokes about domestic violence. He refers to “faggots” and even has written songs about killing his wife, with whom he has had a troubled relationship.

But it is the fault of music media outlets like MTV, which give Eminem and other hateful lyricists air time, possibly setting him up to take center stage at the end of February, when the Grammy winners are chosen.

Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” was one of the best-selling albums of 2000, and has been showered with praise by critics and even other artists for its clever, angst-driven rhymes.

The Grammys are a musical popularity contest and Eminem has proven popular with a little help from the airwaves.

If MTV is truly sincere about its commitment to help bring an end to hate crimes, then it should stop giving Eminem and those who write similar immoral lyrics the spotlight.

Scream freedom of speech all you want, but there is a definitive line between censorship and having class.

Nothing in the Constitution says MTV must play every video it has in stock. It and other musical outlets are private organizations, not bound by freedom of speech laws that apply to the federal government -