I’ve got a t-shirt that says “Peace” in Arabic. If I attempt to board a flight while wearing it, at least a JetBlue flight, apparently I will not be allowed … Read more Arabic writing on your t-shirt? Good luck getting on a plane.
The University of Alberta’s Express News today features an article titled “Librarians are freedom fighters, says author,” about professor Toni Samek and her recent advocacy of school librarianship in Alberta. … Read more Dr. Toni Samek profiled in U. of Alberta article about teacher-librarian crisis
Urgent message from the ALA Washington Office: On Wednesday, July 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the amended H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), by a vote … Read more Contact your Senators about DOPA
A new FAIR Action Alert reports that FEMA security guards are blocking journalists from talking to Katrina victims in FEMA trailer parks. FAIR cites the original story from the Baton … Read more Katrina victims muzzled
The Dade County, FL, school board’s attempt to ban Vamos a Cuba, the children’s book that local Cuban expatriats complain paints too rosy a picture of life in the socialist … Read more Vamos a Cuba update
Washington State recently passed a law against internet gambling that contains a provision banning speech that “aids and abets” the gambling industry it defines as illegal. As it is explained … Read more Censorship via Washington State Anti-Gambling Law
Students of media consolidation and market censorship are well aware of the importance of small, independent and alternative publishers in providing balanced viewpoints in libraries. In our practice as librarians … Read more Resources for the Alternative Press
The school board in Miami, Florida just voted to remove a book from the school’s library – “Vamos a Cuba / A Visit to Cuba” – because they consider it … Read more Ironic Dade County
On this day we celebrate the Barnette decision. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on flag day, 1943, … Read more Happy Flag Day
Here is a bit of depressing but not surprising news. Kathleen de la Peña McCook was thrown off of the Higher Education Service Learning discussion list for addressing a bit … Read more Kathleen McCook thrown off HE-SL discussion list for addressing disinformation
Free Expression Policy Project at the Brennan Center for Justice has just released a major public policy report on internet filtering that “explains the effects of CIPA and then analyzes … Read more Free Expression Policy Project Report on Filtering
This open letter has been circulating elsewhere, but deserves the widest circulation possible, in my opinion…. “I’m sharing this open letter from Patricia Polacco because it raises chilling questions about … Read more Open letter from Patricia Polacco RE: International Reading Association Conference
Free Exchange on Campus, a coalition of academic and public interest groups formed in response to David Horowitz’s “Academic Bill of Rights” initiative campaign, has just released a major report … Read more “Facts Count”: Examination of David Horowitz’s Dangerous Academics book
Christopher Phelps, a history professor at Ohio State University, Mansfield, asked me to post his letter to the Dispatch in response to their coverage of the situation involving the anti-gay … Read more More on the Mansfield situation, from a Mansfield professor
I would like to turn your attention to a thoughtful post by Argentinian librarian Edgardo Civallero on Cuba and the debate surrounding the “independent library movement.” Edgardo blogs mostly in … Read more Argentinian library blogger on Cuba
Here’s a good article about the Bush administration’s habit of picking and choosing what science by gov’t agencies gets published and what doesn’t, according to its political litmus test. The … Read more Bush & Co. Censorship of Science It Doesn’t Like
I always loved doing that “quote for the week” and I miss it. Here’s a link to a nice collection of politically-related quotations. A lot of them relate to media … Read more Non-library quotations
Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression, edited by Robert Atkins and Svetlana Mintcheva and just coming out from The New Press, is about a range of new and subtle … Read more New book on market censorship
At Ohio State, Mansfield there’s a controversial situation shaping up concerning the library. It isn’t being talked about on listservs much, probably because at first glance it might seem to … Read more Anti-gay book controversy at Ohio State, Mansfield
George Washington U. to Receive Jack Anderson’s Papers — but FBI Wants to See Them First By Scott Carlson Chronicle of Higher Ed, April 18th, 2006 During his life and … Read more Government wants first crack at late journalist’s papers