ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation was one of seven members of the Free Expression Network to sign a November 29 declaration against the U.S. government pressuring the entertainment industry to tone down violent content. Violence in the Media: A Joint Statement voices concerns that lawmakers’ “frenetic search” to decrease gory images would result in “either direct government regulation of content or . . . self-censorship or labeling practices.”
Contending that “portrayals of violence in the media reflect a violent world,” the statement asserts that “the swiftest way for the public to get [an anti-violence] message across in our free-market economy is at the box office, the book or record store, or via the channel selector of a television set.” The declaration also endorses extending First Amendment protections to Internet content.
Released by the Free Expression Network, the statement is also signed by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers, the Association of American University Presses, the Authors Guild, and the PEN American Center.
Posted December 4, 2000.