What is the intrinsic value in a lie?
We're not talking about the value of a lie. We're talking about the value in being able to have freedom of speech.
Or are you suggesting people should not be free to make mistakes every now and then? Freedom of speech has indeed led to people say things that aren't true. But sometimes it wasn't intentionally. They were not intentionally lying, and later on when the person catches on to it, they take it back. This in especially true in science. Many scientists publish theories about things that aren't true, then later they find out they were wrong and then they correct themselves.
It is my understanding that the logic behind the protection of Free Speech is that people should be free to speak the truth.
People should be free to also speak their own opinion whether we agree with it or not, and whether it's true or not.
For example: on the whole topic of Creationism vs Evolution: nobody is saying that Creationists should not have the freedom to publish their books on why they believe the Universe was created by some imaginary guy. The debate is about whether or not Creationism should be presented as a serious theory for the beginning of the Universe. But they are free to talk all their made up theories all they want and publish books about it and start websites about it and make movies about it.
That is freedom of speech.
By the way, the very act of saying "I'm going to censor anyone from saying anything that's not true" is a fallacy. Nobody is the ultimate authority on every single topic on the world, so no one can always know when someone is telling the truth. There will always be gray areas. The important thing is that we all listen to each other, and then we all exercise our ability to analyze what's been said, and each one of us reach our conclusions about why what was said may be true or false.
