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Violence in the Media
“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” — Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Texas v. Johnson
“Every legislative limitation upon utterance, however valid, may in a particular case serve as an inroad upon the freedom of speech which the Constitution protects.” — Supreme Court Justice Stanley F. Reed, Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507, 510 (1948)
"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." --Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, "The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.
“The Constitution exists precisely so that opinions and judgments, including esthetic and moral judgments about art and literature, can be formed, tested, and expressed. What the Constitution says is that these judgments are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree, even with the mandate or approval of a majority. Technology expands the capacity to choose; and it denies the potential of this revolution if we assume the Government is best positioned to make these choices for us.”—Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
Violence in the Media: A Joint Statement
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“Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances.” — First Amendment
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Michael Moore Asks Big Questions
“It can’t just be the video games, because the Japanese play more of them and watch more brutally violent movies. It can’t be our history of violence, because the Germans don’t have as much trouble. It can’t be poverty, ethnic tension or the number of guns, because the Canadians have just as many minorities, just as many unemployed and just as many guns per head. It can’t be Marilyn Manson, because everybody listens to Marilyn Manson (who by the way is shown to be refreshingly articulate in the film).”
Violence in the Media: A Joint Statement by American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, Inc., Association of American University Presses, The Authors Guild, Freedom to Read Foundation, PEN American Center
Shooting the Messenger: Why Censorship Won’t Stop Violence by Judith Levine, prepared for the Media Coalition, Inc.
Bam! Whap! Thunk! Even though politicians are battling violence in the media, the real villain—if there is one—is our culture by Robert Corn-Revere
Censorship’s Costs Are Too High by Jim Mitchell, The Arizona Daily Star
Testimony of Danny Goldberg, CEO and Co-Owner, Artemis Records before the Senate Commerce Committee
Summary of Testimony of Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship before the Task Force on Youth Violence and the Entertainment Industry
Testimony of Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship before the Task Force on Youth Violence and the Entertainment Industry
The First Amendment, Pop Culture, and the Silly Season
An Appeal to Reason is an appeal to Hollywood executives to provide the highest quality entertainment possible which also urges them to resist the pressure to create taboos, villainize art and artists, and onstrain the creative imagination. It is also is a response to Appeal to Hollywood, which calls for “a new voluntary code of conduct, broadly modeled on the NAB code” that its creators envision would “(1) affirm in clear terms the industry’s vital responsibilities for the health of our culture; (2) establish certain minimum standards for violent, sexual, and degrading material for each medium, below which producers can be expected not to go; (3) commit the industry to an overall reduction in the level of entertainment violence; (4) ban the practice of targeting of adult-oriented entertainment to youth markets; (5) provide for more accurate information to parents on media content while committing to the creation of ‘windows’ or ‘safe havens’ for family programming (including a revival of TV’s ‘Family Hour’); and, finally, (6) pledge the industry to significantly greater creative efforts to develop good family-oriented entertainment.”
You can read—and sign—the Appeal to Reason petition, and see who else has signed it, at http://www.freeexpression.org/reason.htm.
Links to non-ALA sites have been provided because these sites may have information of interest. Neither the American Library Association nor the Office for Intellectual Freedom necessarily endorses the views expressed or the facts presented on these sites; and furthermore, ALA and OIF do not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites.
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