We couldn’t make this up. Not so long ago, Yale University Press, on direction from the university, pre-emptively self-censored images of Mohammed from The Cartoons that Shook the World by Jytte Klausen, a scholarly examination of the controversy that erupted over the publication of cartoon images of Mohammed by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. Yale’s action was met by a torrent [...]
This week, in a decision that is likely to limit what theaters decide to produce, Colorado's Supreme Court upheld the state's ban on theatrical smoking. The 2006 Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking inside public buildings. This is something we welcome! However, contrary to the situation in other states where smoking on stage is exempt, Colorado performers are banned [...]
This week, in a decision that is likely to limit what theatres decide to produce, Colorado’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on theatrical smoking. Three not-for-profit theaters in Colorado sued the state’s department of Public Health and Environment on the grounds that the ban on theatrical smoking was an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of speech.
In this issue of Censorship News, we discuss the importance of academic freedom and Yale's decision to remove images of Mohammed from Jytte Klausen's The Cartoons that Shook the World.
Censorship news roundup, Winter 2009/2010
Every state in the nation makes it a crime to abuse animals. In 1999, Congress decided that wasn’t enough and created a new crime – taking or possessing a picture of animal cruelty.
In September, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, a case challenging provisions of the anti-terrorism laws that make it a crime to give “material support,” including “training” and “expert advice or assistance,” to any group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
Last summer, Yale University decided to strip all images of Mohammed from The Cartoons that Shook the World, by Jytte Klausen, a scholarly review of the events surrounding the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy published by Yale University Press. (See CN 101) To justify the decision, University officials cited concerns that the book might stimulate violence “somewhere in the world,” even though no actual threats had been received.
According to a recent report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a number of Senators have failed to abide by Section 512 of the 2007 Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) which prohibits the use of “secret holds” on legislation and nominations but provides no mechanism for enforcement of the law. Under the system of holds, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Association of University Professors, joined by leading groups in the academic, civil liberties, journalism, and free speech fields, issued a Statement of Principle and Call to Action urging governments, institutions and private individuals to support freedom of expression and academic freedom, and to resist caving in to threats of violence, real and [...]
The NCAC and AAUP issued a Statement of Principle and Call to Action urging governments, institutions and private individuals to support freedom of expression and academic freedom, and to resist caving in to threats of violence, real and imagined.
