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in support of free expression
All content © 1999 - 2006 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).
Information presented here may be freely redistributed in its entirety,
provided that credit is given to the appropriate source. Information found here
may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without
the written permission of the National Coalition Against Censorship.
UPDATED JANUARY 6 2009
©Copyright 2005 NCAC
WEB DESIGN
Jeanne Criscola
Criscola Design
NEW!
NCAC Launches Blogging Censorship
NCAC launches Blogging Censorship, a new blog where NCAC staff weigh in on current censorship issues, underreported censorship incidents, and a First Amendment perspective on policies, rules, and regulation. Read it here.
Resource
Stem Cell Research and the First Amendment
Censoring Science: A Stem Cell Story analyzes First Amendment implications of federal and state policies controlling human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. The article describes the constitutional principles at stake when religiously-motivated policies interfere with scientific speech and inquiry. The article is available online here.
news
NCAC’s The Knowledge Project: Censorship & Science files Amicus brief in Supreme Court
In August 2008, The Knowledge Project filed an Amicus brief in Wyeth v. Levine, a case whose important First Amendment implications include the public’s access to information on health risks of marketed drugs. Arguments began Monday, November 3, 2008.
NEws
The Knowledge Project on Suppression of Medical Information from Army Researchers
The public has a right to know non-classified, scientific information generated by government researchers. Katherine A. Rabb, Director of the Knowledge Project: Censorship & Science, discussed suppression of medical information generated by Army researchers in a recent article about the Army’s policy for conducting pre-publication review of medical data. Read the article here. Read NCAC's statement on this policy here.
NEWS
Student Press at Quinnipiac, a Complicated Matter
The Quad News, a student run online news publication at Quinnipiac University, recently made the editorial page of the New York Times under the headline, "Curbing Speech at Quinnipiac". The editorial raises questions about the University's relationship to student press and it's commitment to free speech. NCAC Participating Organization Student Press Law Center reports on the case. Click below to read more.
In the NEws
Annual Celebration Honorees on New York Public Radio's Leonard Lopate Show
Ruth Gruber, Anthony Lewis, and Barney Rosset discuss their own experiences with censorship, current trends to self-censorship and new directions in First Amendment law. Listen to the show here.
NCAC EVENT
Annual Celebration of Free Speech and its Defenders
Join Ruth Gruber, Caroline Hirsch, Anthony Lewis, Dan Rather and Barney Rosset on October 21, 2008. Information about the event and information on how to buy tickets available here.
Resource
Back to School: Free Speech on Campus
NCAC has begun putting together incidents of free speech clashes on campus. From Facebook and websites to foreign scholars and speech codes our growing list of news items and resources is available here.
Censorship News #107
A Pig-Headed Reading of the Law
Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer of pork products, has filed a lawsuit against the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) alleging that the union’s advocacy violates The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal law designed to combat organized crime.
newS
Free Speech Groups Urge Return of Censored Classics
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Native Son by Richard Wright, and Brave New World by Alodus Huxley were pulled from high school classrooms in Appling County, GA, following complaints by a local minister who objected to language and "mature content" in the books. Students can check the books out of the district's Media Center only if they have signed written permission. NCAC, ABFFE, and the ACLU of Georgia sent a letter to the school board opposing the ban. Click on the link below to read the joint letter, as well as a response from Appling High School English teacher, Mary Ann Ellis.
news
Violence in Video Games: heavy-handed legislation persists
New York State once again passed an ill-considered video game law. It’s now up to the Governor to sign or veto it. Read NCAC and NYCLU’s joint letter here.
news
An independent analysis of network news coverage finds that "Americans are getting about 'two minutes of Iraq coverage, per network, per week.'" Through the first half of 2008, the three major news networks have featured only 181 weekday minutes of coverage, a sharp decline from over 1,100 minutes last year.
news and commentary
Surrendering Intellectual Freedom
Under relentless pressure from some of its major donors, the Spertus Museum in Chicago closes Imaginary Coordinates, an exhibition about maps and mapping.
commentary
Free Speech in Virtual Worlds:
An interview with NCAC's Arts Program Director, Svetlana Mintcheva
action
NCAC Voices Opposition to "Ideological Exclusion"
NCAC and nine other academic and free expression groups filed an amicus brief in an important free speech and academic freedom case now pending in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case involves a provision of the USA PATRIOT ACT — the "ideological exclusion provision" — which gives the government license to prevent foreigners from entering the United States if the government thinks their views are "irresponsible."
action
Protect Science Whistleblowers
NCAC has joined with the Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups in calling for legal protections for scientists in federal agencies who speak out about issues of public concern like fraud, waste, corruption, as well as health and safety risks. Read a statement signed by over 50 organizations across the political spectrum in support of whistleblower protections for scientists.
action
Author Julia Alvarez Speaks Out Against Censorship
Following parents’ objections to sexual themes in Julia Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, the book was banned from Johnston County, NC, classrooms and school libraries. NCAC interviewed Alvarez, asking about her reactions to the book ban and her experiences with censorship.
Publications
Censoring Culture
In Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression, Svetlana Mintcheva — head of NCAC's Arts Advocacy Program — and art historian Robert Atkins bring together the latest thinking from art historians, cultural theorists, legal scholars, and psychoanalysts, as well as first-person accounts by artists and advocates, to give us a comprehensive understanding of censorship in a new century. You can purchase a copy now in the NCAC Store. Click here to read the table of contents and introduction.
Annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders
October 21, 2008
at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York City
For more photos, click here.
Listen to Ruth Gruber, Anthony Lewis, and Barney Rosset discuss censorship - past, present and future on
WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show
Monday, October 20 at noon.
93.9 fm
820 am
wnyc.org
