Censorship News Articles

Off With His Head

By |2019-03-07T23:17:12-05:00July 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

The FBI recently confiscated books, computers and lab equipment from the home of Steven Kurtz, an art professor at the State University of NY at Buffalo and member of the internationally recognized art collective, Critical Arts Ensemble. CAE's work explores the politics of biotechnology, and the material found in Kurtz's home was part of its latest project,

Free Range Grains

. Designed to test food products for possible genetic modification,

Free Range Grains

was scheduled to be shown at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this summer. Instead, a sign describing the FBI action occupies its designated space.

Views – A Blank Check?

By |2019-03-07T23:17:13-05:00July 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

The Justice Department's disdain for constitutional rights has triggered resistance—in the Supreme Court, no less. As we go to press, the Court has just affirmed the right of individuals detained as "enemy combatants" to consult with lawyers and to contest the grounds for their detention before a neutral decision-maker.

Views – Indecency Again

By |2019-03-07T23:17:11-05:00May 1st, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

By the time you read this, Congress will likely have increased the fines for broadcasting indecent material from $27,500 to $500,000 per occurrence, and violence will be included in the definition of indecency. Performers as well as broadcasters could be fined.

Congress Threatens Middle East Studies

By |2019-03-07T23:17:10-05:00April 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

A Congressional effort to impose oversight power over some academic programs has passed in the House of Representatives and is being considered by a Senate committee. At issue are area studies programs which the federal government has funded to increase understanding of foreign cultures, languages and politics, and to overcome a shortage of translators and specialists in international affairs. HR 3077, the International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003, intended to fund studies of strategic importance to the U.S., particularly targets Middle Eastern studies programs. It would establish an advisory board to oversee these programs, ostensibly to make sure that they are not "biased."

Government Warns Publishers – Do not Edit Foreign Scripts

By |2019-03-07T23:17:10-05:00April 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in September, 2003, that trade embargoes apply to scientific and literary manuscripts by authors from Iran, Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Sudan unless they are "camera ready." Government permission would be needed even for routine edits such as correcting spelling or grammar, or reordering sentences and paragraphs.

Flash

By |2019-03-07T23:18:08-05:00April 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

As we go to press, the Federal Election Commission is poised to consider whether non-profits should be treated like "political committees," subject to funding and spending restrictions.

Jeremiah Gutman – NCAC Chair Dies

By |2019-03-07T23:18:09-05:00April 19th, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

Jeremiah Gutman, a dedicated champion of the First Amendment and Chair of the National Coalition Against Censorship, died on February 25, 2004 in Westchester County, New York at age 80. He had been an officer of the Board of Directors of NCAC since the 1980s, first as General Counsel and then as Co-Chair before assuming the Chair in 2001.

 

The Long And The Short Of It

By |2019-03-07T23:17:10-05:00January 21st, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

In Harrisonburg, VA, the home of a professor and her family was set on fire along with the anti-war sign they had displayed. Cindy Hunter, Sam Nickels and their children were driven from their blazing home for expressing their political views. Community members rallied for free speech with signs saying "I thought this was America," and denounced the arson as "domestic terrorism."

Student Speech in the Wake of Columbine

By |2019-03-07T23:18:04-05:00January 21st, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

The shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, as a practical matter, resulted in the restriction of free expression in the nation's schools, as much as the 1988 Supreme Court decision, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, legally authorized limits on student press and speech.

Views – Money Talks

By |2019-03-07T23:18:06-05:00January 21st, 2004|Censorship News Articles|

Ruling in the recent campaign finance case, McConnell v. FCC, the Supreme Court observed that "the electoral process is the very 'means through which a free society democratically translates political speech into concrete governmental action'..... [M]easures aimed at protecting the integrity of the process tangibly benefit public participation in political debate."

The Long And The Short Of It: CN #91

By |2019-03-07T23:17:09-05:00October 20th, 2003|Censorship News Articles|

Admiral John Poindexter is gone from the Pentagon, along with his Orwellian proposals, including the Total Information Awareness Program (Censorship News 89) and the terror futures market scheme—intended to prevent terrorism through traders—predictions! Oregon Senator Ron Wyden—who led the opposition—said: "From a standpoint of civil liberties, this is a huge victory."

Views – Science and Politics

By |2019-03-07T23:45:19-05:00October 20th, 2003|Censorship News Articles|

In the recent past, censorship debates have mostly revolved around sex, violence, and religion, in familiar re-enactment of the culture wars. Even controversies that implicate science, like those about teaching "creation science" and abstinence-only sex ed, have been largely driven by conflict over religion and its role in the public schools.

Science and Politics

By |2019-03-07T23:45:20-05:00October 20th, 2003|Censorship News Articles|

In the recent past, censorship debates have mostly revolved around sex, violence, and religion, in familiar re-enactment of the culture wars. Even controversies that implicate science, like those about teaching "creation science" and abstinence-only sex ed, have been largely driven by conflict over religion and its role in the public schools.

The Long And The Short Of It: CN #90

By |2019-03-12T17:41:54-04:00August 19th, 2003|Censorship News Articles|

Once again, voices of protest are getting through. In response to wide public objections to the FCC new rules that allow media conglomerates to expand, Congress is taking action to rollback the FCC's move (click here for NCAC's action alert). A bipartisan group of legislators appears likely to prevail in preventing more media concentration in fewer hands.

Accountability in Public Schools

By |2019-03-07T23:45:17-05:00July 11th, 2003|Censorship News Articles|

The past year has uncovered unsavory practices in New York State and City public schools, including an elite city high school. New York, however, is not the only place that needs fixing before the chill of censorship drives away some of the best teachers and dumbs down education.

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