China has been dominating censorship headlines recently, but, while we’ve been focused on the Great Firewall of China, a Great Firewall Reef has been growing in the democratic West. Australia has one of the harshest censorship regimes among the world’s democracies. Films like Ken Park (Larry Clark) and Salo (Pier Paolo Pasolini) have been Refused Classification and are not allowed to [...]
After 37-year old video work from artist Susan Mogul was removed from YouTube, NCAC and the Electronic Frontier Foundation joined together in the following letter requesting once more that YouTube instate a viable appeals process and include an exception for nudity in art in its community guidelines.
Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy speaking on the censorship. Tamayo Museum Director Hernandez Chong Cuy made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are videotaping their responses [...]
Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy speaking on alternative models of cultural production. Tamayo Museum Director Hernandez Chong Cuy made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are [...]
Artist Dread Scott speaking on self-censorship. Scott made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are videotaping their responses to the following questions: 1. What are [...]
Artist Dread Scott speaking on taboos. Scott made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are videotaping their responses to the following questions: 1. What are [...]
John Stagliano had his case thrown out by Judge Richard Leon early this week. Rather than having been found not guilty based on the First Amendment, it was thrown out because the prosecution bungled their case, and the judge determined that not enough evidence was given to prove that Stagliano was involved with Evil Angel Productions. The counsel for the [...]
“I’m all for free speech, BUT…” We all believe in free speech, but does that mean anything goes? What about the speech that offends us, makes us cringe, and provokes our anger (and desire to censor)? Is there anything that should be outlawed in art, films, books, music, video games, TV, or online? Is free speech an all or nothing [...]
Massachusetts has become the latest state to try to try to protect minors from sexual content online at the expense of First Amendment rights. Like many states, Massachusetts has long had laws on the books making it a crime to provide minors with material deemed “harmful to minors.” But the law did not extend to electronic communications. Concerns about minors [...]
News of GlaxoSmithKline's coverup of the health risks of their diabetes drug, "Avandia," has also highlighted serious problems with scientific integrity at the FDA. In 2006, an FDA scientist who recommended requiring a warning label about Avandia's possible heart health risks was shot down and reprimanded by her superiors. In 2007, the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, petitioned the [...]
An LA Times report details the disappointment expressed by some government scientists with a lack of improvement in scientific integrity since President Obama took office and called for new rules to protect scientific integrity. Such new rules have yet to be issued, and lower level government scientists still report political pressure to alter their results as well as a lack [...]
There is some good news in the prolonged battle of fleeting expletives in the media, FCC v. Fox Television Stations. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC’s ban on fleeting expletives is unconstitutionally vague. This comes off the heels of a Supreme Court decision upholding the FCC’s authority under the Administrative Procedure Act to issue regulations [...]
After a long and drawn-out challenge process, this week Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon finally prevailed in Franklin Township! The denouement to this extended drama came down to a special convening of the Franklin Township school board set for this past Monday evening (July 6th). No one knew how it would turn out. New members of the school board, whose [...]
On July 8, 2010, the NCAC joined Texas Civil Rights Project, First Amendment Project, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, The Arthouse at the Jones Center, and Big Umbrella Studios in filing a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court in support of an art display in Texas (Kleinman v. City of San Marcos).
After a couple months of debate, the Franklin Township School Board in Indiana has ruled to retain Song of Solomon in its AP English classes!
https://youtu.be/hsRVq4pJiFs?feature=shared Artist Samia Halaby speaking on self-censorship. Halaby made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are videotaping their responses to the following questions: [...]
https://youtu.be/NZUXgV_ByPI?feature=shared Artist Samia Halaby speaking on the impact of funding on the arts. Halaby made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause. Invited artists are videotaping [...]
Over the holiday weekend, the town of Bemidji, Minnesota removed a piece of public artwork by Deborah Davis entitled Gaea. It is a statue of a beaver, one of ten in the city. The reason for its removal was over what was depicted on the beaver’s belly. The artist said it is supposed to be a depiction of two hands [...]
Announcing the 2010 Youth Free Expression Project Film Contest "I'm All for Free Speech, BUT..." What would you censor, if anything, and why? Film your response in 4 minutes or less. Entries can be videos of any kind, including documentary, animation, experimental, or music video. The top three winners will be awarded cash prizes and the first place winner will [...]
The activities and viewpoints of Elena Kagan have been put under a microscope since congressional hearings on her nomination to the Supreme Court have started, but one area that senators have not questioned her in are her thoughts and work on the First Amendment. Based on her writings and speeches, both in court and out, it seems that Ms. Kagan [...]
