Lecture 6: Book and Music Censorship

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Lecture 6 Book and Music Censorship

• COM 451
• Communication and Law

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I. Censorship Overview

• Def. Censorship is an act, process, or policy of
  a group (i.e. the government, or school board) to
  prevent individuals from being able to access
  certain materials by removing or suppressing
  those materials considered harmful (I.e.
  literature, plays, or other materials) on moral
  or otherwise objectionable grounds. This can be
  accomplished through legislation or regulation,
  as well as by other non-legal means.
• For example
• Decency laws may prohibit the creation or use of
  material that is indecent and harmful by
  depicting nudity, sexual contact, or
  sado-masochism.
• Regulations might allow postal or customs
  authorities to seize and destroy indecent
  material.

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I. Censorship Overview (cont)

• For information agencies (libraries, galleries,
  theaters) censorship is the most visible form of
  complaint and the one that has attracted the most
  attention from information professionals,
  especially librarians.
• Most censorship involves
• school libraries,
• media centers
• classroom reading assignments (especially English
  courses)
• Smaller public libraries, especially in
  relatively homogeneous communities, are the
  second most likely environment for censorship.
• Academic and special libraries are unlikely
  targets.
• Museums and galleries do attract censors when
  they exhibit avant garde or controversial
  material.

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II. Origin of Censorship

• Censors were the two magistrates (judge) in
  ancient Rome
• created a register of all citizens, and
• supervised public morals
• responsible for verifying the qualifications and
  good moral character of candidates seeking public
  office.
• Thus, mainly associated with government
  supervision of morals and conduct.
• Censorship today is more associated with
  non-governmental groups, religious and political
  organizations.
• About 60 of all censorship involves materials
  that contain sexual content, deal with the
  occult, or are far left but not all.
• Agricultural organizations have lobbied for
  legislation to make it illegal to make negative
  comments about the safety of agricultural
  products.
• Beef growers and packagers have campaigned to
  prevent public libraries from ordering alarmist,
  anti-beef books that might destroy the local
  economy (beef growers).

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III. Censorship is Popular

• Some national polls suggest that a majority of
  Americans favor censorship in the library. Most
  are opposed to censorship in general, but favor
  censorship of whatever material they personally
  happen to find offensive.
• Even though possibly illegal, censorship
  legislation is popular with legislators at the
  local, state and federal level.
• Often legislators do not support such legislation
  from the heart but rather for political gain
  knowing full well that the courts will later find
  it unconstitutional.
• No politician want to be labeled as someone who
  supports fifth.
• In this area, few strong supporters for
  intellectual freedom.

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IV. Pro-Censorship Organizations

• While there is considerable latent support for
  censorship, it usually takes a campaign by some
  sort of organization to create an incident.
• A variety of pro-censorship organizations at the
  national, regional, and state level circulate
  lists of troublesome or unwholesome items to
  their members who are encouraged to go to local
  sites to see if these items are available.
• If they are, complaints and protests are
  generated. Such incidents account for about 20
  percent of all censorship cases. The
  anti-censorship organization "People for the
  American Way" maintains a list of attacks on the
  freedom to learn.

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IV. Pro-Censorship Organizations (cont)

• Some of the major groups in the censorship
  movement are
• Family Research Council
• The Report (Ty and Jeannette Beeson) (anti-gay
  activists)
• Operation Rescue
• American Cause
• Center for the Study of Popular Culture
• Focus on the Family
• Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
• Concerned Women for America
• Coalition on Revival
• Liberty Alliance

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V. American Library Assn. Policies

• The ALA is one of the largest and most active
  anti-censorshp groups in the country. Takes a
  strong Intellectual Freedom position.
• Library Bill of Rights and other ALA intellectual
  freedom statements have no legal standing.
• Effective as examples of moral persuasion, but
  not likely to have much impact on politicians,
  govt officials, or the judiciary.
• Argues that librarians should say NO to any
  censorship initiative.
• Collection should represent ALL viewpoints.
• Collection should include false material. No
  material should be labeled or tagged to indicate
  its authenticity or authority. The collection
  should be a free marketplace of ideas--the
  correct, the popular, the weird, and the
  unpopular.
• Collections should be open to users of all ages.
  Only parents have the authority to limit what
  their children view,listen to, or read.

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VI. Internal censorship

• defInternal censorship is preventing access to
  appropriate materials by those employed by the
  information agency,particularly those responsible
  for collection development and management.
• Some collection developers, primarily in school
  library media centers and smaller public
  libraries
• avoid public controversy by intentionally
  failing to select, purchase and circulate
  materials likely to be controversial in their
  community.
• Thus, able to avoid any type of conflict with
  patrons or local groups.

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VI. Internal censorship (cont)

• Almost always the result of fear of controversy.
• The information professional would most likely
  refuse to provide access to material that he/she
  feels is bad. (i.e. materials about ageism,
  sexism, racism and other evils.)
• Internal censorship is difficult to measure.
• Interview method collection developers are asked
  if they hinder access to appropriate items.
  However, few information professionals are
  willing to admit to censorship, so this can be
  problematic.
• Checklist method checklists of well received but
  controversial items (i.e. banned books) are
  used.Holdings are checked to see if these items
  are available. If not, an interview may follow or
  it may be assumed that (if there is a pattern)
  internal censorship has occurred.
• Questionnaire method often used with LIS
  students. Students are given certain situations
  and asked to make a decision and provide a
  rationale for it. Since there is no price to be
  paid for selecting controversial items for a
  hypothetical library, this approach may be
  unrealistic.

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VI. Predicting Internal Censorship

• Studies of some public librarians and school
  library media specialists has found that the
  following are associated with internal
  censorship.
• Amount and kind of education The more education,
  the greater the probability that controversial
  items will be selected. Information professionals
  with a broad, liberal arts education are more
  likely to select controversial items than those
  with professional or applied education.
• Sex When the proportions of male and female
  information professionals are properly
  considered, female professionals are less likely
  to select controversial material than males.
• Community size Larger communities are likely to
  be more heterogeneous with many pro and con
  advocacy groups in the community. Larger
  communities are also more likely to have a wider
  range of values and attitudes. Information
  agencies in larger communities are more likely to
  hold controversial material.
• Age Older librarians are less likely to select
  controversial items.

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VI. Predicting Internal Censorship (cont)

• Type of information agency School library media
  specialists are much less likely to select
  controversial material than academic or special
  librarians. Public librarians in smaller,
  homogeneous communities are also likely to avoid
  controversial material.
• Illustration Controversial material with
  illustrations is more likely to be avoided than
  similar material limited to text. For example, an
  all text sexual technique book is more likely to
  be selected than one with pictures.
• An adopted selection policy Information agencies
  with an adopted selection policy are more likely
  to select and make available controversial items.
  
• Region The East South Central States (Kentucky,
  Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama) are
  particularly hostile to controversial materials.
  The Rocky Mountain States (Colorado, Utah,
  Wyoming, Montana, Idaho) run a close second.
  Conservative religious and political values in
  the community discourage the selection of
  controversial items.

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VI. Internal Censorship Techniques

• Internal censors use several techniques to
  protect themselves from controversy and community
  pressure.
• 1) Simply do not to select.
• 2) Select and hide.
• 3) Select but alter.
• 4) Select but label.

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VII. External Censorship

• Censorship at the community level is a real
  tension between conflicting freedoms.
• Communities do have the freedom, through their
  elected officials, to affirm appropriate values,
  knowledge and skill.
• Parents do have the freedom to educate their
  children in a way that preserves family values.
• Information professionals should have the freedom
  to exercise professional judgment.
• Individuals, including children and teens, should
  have the freedom to fully develop to their
  potential Issues by exploring issues and problems
  important to them.
• Censors usually are people who care deeply about
  their children, their family, and the community.
  They want to do the right thing. They also
  believe strongly in the power of reading,
  viewing, and listening to change human behavior.

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VII. External Censorship

• Impact of Interaction?
• Will people act or behave differently because of
  an experience via collection use? It seems
  intuitive to argue
• Good materials cause people to be and do good.
  Bad materials cause people to be and do bad
  things. (But, evidence is limited.)
• One mainstream opinion is that normal people are
  not likely to do something inappropriate or
  dysfunctional because of a reading, viewing, or
  listening experience.
• Some even suggest that the reading, viewing, or
  listening is a substitute for unwholesome acts.
  (i.e. reading of sexually oriented adult
  magazines actually reduces violent sexual crimes
  by acting as a stress release valve.)
• Conservative researchers can find evidence to
  suggest that continued exposure to unwholesome
  material will alter values and behavior.
• In fact, most collection developers do not feel
  any responsibility for what happens to
  individuals as they interact with items in the
  collection.

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VII. Imprimatur

• def. Official approval or license to print or
  publish especially under conditions of
  censorship official sanction.
• One of the reasons that censors are particularly
  concerned with items in a library is that
  inclusion in a professionally selected collection
  gives items legitimacy.
• Would information professionals select an item
  that is not accurate or good?
• Actually, yes because of the professional need
  to develop diverse collections. However, this is
  not intuitive. Censors often feel that selection
  is an endorsement that will make controversial
  material more believable.

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VII. Lead or Follow Community Taste?

• Professionals, especially in school library media
  centers and smaller public libraries, need to
  consider the gap between the values/attitudes/expe
  riences available in the collection and those
  that are acceptable to the community.
• The greater the gap --gt the more likely that
  there will be a serious censorship problem.
• No gap --gt users may find the collection too
  bland and it may not provide them with what they
  want and need.

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VII. You Have to Be One argument

• Belief that only those who are part of the group
  know enough to select wisely.
• For example, representatives of a racial/ethnic
  or other advocacy group may demand that they
  develop the collection on their way of life
  because they have experienced it and know what is
  true and what is false. How can a middle class
  white woman develop a collection on the
  African-American experience?
• Logically, this could be extended to cover many
  situations.
• Only men should select works about the male
  experience.
• Only Roman Catholics should select materials on
  Roman Catholicism.
• Most information professionals are white, middle
  class females. How important is life experience
  versus professional knowledge?

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VIII. Case For Intellectual Freedom

• In essence, the case for intellectual freedom is
  simply that there are no easy answers to complex
  problems.
• Preventing access to suicide books will not
  prevent suicide. What is good and true is not
  always easily identified.Good people will differ.
  Educated, thoughtful people will differ.
• The intellectual freedom advocate believes that
  individuals can eventually discriminate between
  the good and the evil, the true and the untrue.
  This ability is strengthened through use.
  Exposure to different views and values challenges
  individuals to examine, evaluate, and grow.
  Without this experience, individuals are more
  likely to be manipulated, especially by mass
  media.

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VIII. Case For Intellectual Freedom (cont)

• The intellectual freedom advocate believes that
  only parents are responsible for what their
  children read, view, and listen to. Adults are
  responsible for selecting what they read, view,
  or listen to.
• No politician, advocacy group,or individual
  should determine what adults read (if it is
  legal). Democracy depends on the search for truth.

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IX. Isolation

• Professional isolation is an important concern.
  It creates an environment where internal
  censorship is more likely and external censorship
  is more likely to be success. This is likely to
  be a problem for school and public librarians
  located in more rural communities.
• Intellectual freedom may be a lonely and risky
  business. It is relatively easy to be an
  intellectual freedom fighter in an academic
  library where there several dozen support
  professionals and administrators as well as a
  campus where many are committed to intellectual
  freedom. Compare this situation with that of a
  one or two person school library or media center
  where colleagues and administrators have little
  interest in intellectual freedom and the local
  community is conservative

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IX. Isolation (cont)

• Information professionals are not well organized
  as a professional group and lack political power.
  Typically, library professional associations lack
  access to talented legal staff to fight
  censorship battles. However, some state education
  associations do have staff legal help available
  to protect teacher-librarian members.
• Information professionals, especially librarians,
  lack recognized professional status in the
  community and seem more likely to be intimidated
  by assertive lay people than members of other
  professions.

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X. Discussion Questions

• Is acting as a censor a proper role for
  government?
• Is censorship (or lack of it) likely to lead to
  certain kinds of behavior?
• If yes, what should be censored, by whom, and
  how?
• Does censorship create a more stable society?
• Does censorship create a society which encourages
  (or discourages) creativity and inquiry?

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X. Discussion Questions (cont)

• Whenever a collection developers selects
  materials, aren't the decisions a result of some
  bias, predilection, or personal preference?
• Since good materials do good, dont information
  professionals have a special responsibility to
  select good material?
• How much of a gap can or should exist between the
  values of the collection developer and those of
  the community?
• To what degree should the collection developer
  select materials that stimulate and agitate the
  community?
• How much intellectual excitement is viable?
• If you let censors remove a particular item,
  won't they come back and want to remove other
  items?

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XI. History of Music Censorship

• 1950s
• Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show
• Teens begin to buy their own music
• Music industry begins to cater to teens
• 1960s
• Louie Louie and Can't Get No Satisfaction are
  banned
• Beatles are one of the most heavily censored
  bands
• Hippies influence music content
• 1970s
• President Nixon pushes for music censorship
• 1980s
• Push for music censorship increases
• Bands are beginning to be dropped by recording
  companies if lyrics potentially offensive
• 1990s
• Warning labels appear
• 2 Live Crew's album sales restricted
• 2 Live Crew members arrested
• Bills to curb underage purchasing of albums
  proposed

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XI. 2 Live Crew Judgement

• A judge ruled the 2 Live Crew album "Nasty as
  they Wanna Be" as obscene under Florida State
  Obscenity Laws. After the judge made his ruling
  the group performed live in a night club and was
  then arrested for violation of the obscenity
  statue. After a much publicized jury trial, they
  were found innocent. It was determined that their
  music contained political value and therefore
  did not meet all the criteria of the Miller
  standard. The Supreme Court refused to hear the
  case.

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XI. North Dakota Legislation

• North Dakota legislators introduced a bill which
  would allow cities to restrict the sale of songs
  with lyrics which are violent, racist or sexually
  explicit or which cities would consider harmful
  to minors. Children would have to have parental
  permission to purchase them, and they could be
  limited to Adults Only sections in music stores.

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XII. Current Forms of Music Censorship

• Cancelled concerts
• Sales restrictions
• Noise restrictions
• Restricting concerts for minors
• Proposed concert rating system
• Proposed fee to perform music on streets
• Advisory labels for albums

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XIII. Groups in favor of Music Censorship

• Parents Music Resource Center
• This is the group formed by Tipper Gore, wife of
  the ex-VP
• The aim of the PMRC was to persuade the music
  industry to institute a form of self-restraint
  (and it was successful) by placing a warning
  label on music products that are inappropriate
  for younger children due to explicit sexual or
  violent lyrics.
• Also, the PMRC proposes that lyrics of labeled
  music products be available to the
  consumermbefore purchase at a store.
• Also
• National Political Congress of Black Women, Inc.,
  http//www.npcbw.org/
• Concerned Women for America, http//www.cwfa.org/

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XIII. Groups Against Music Censorship

• These groups are basically opposed to any form of
  censorship.
• Rock Out Censorship, http//www.theroc.org/
• Parents for Rock and Rap
• American Civil Liberties Union,
  http//www.aclu.org/

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XIV. Arguments For Music Censorship

• Influence on children and teens
• Violent music is only one aspect of our culture,
  but a very significant one that seems to have
  gotten very little attention in the recent school
  shootings. - Debbie Pelly, teacher at Westside
  Middle School
• Parents and teens favor advisory labels
• Even while industry executives assert that
  children are protected from explicit music,
  anecdotal evidence suggests that most
  hyper-violent albums are bought by children.
• There dont seem to be very many Marilyn Manson
  fans over the age of 20. - Sam Brownback R.
  Kansas
• During the past 5 years, since the corporate
  moguls of the music industry started spending
  millions to promote and distribute music that
  teaches kids that it is cool to kill, use drugs,
  gang rape girls and denigrate women in the most
  vulgar and violent ways, jails are bulging and
  teen drug use has increased four-fold. - Delores
  Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress
  of Black Women, Inc.

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XIV. Arguments Against Music Censorship

• Lyrics do not influence behavior
• Music is not as big a problem as the underlying
  social issues in a world where technology is
  speeding life to a blur. - Krist Novoselic,
  ex-Nirvana bassist
• Teens do not buy music based solely on lyrics
• A child looking for hardcore rap records is not
  going to buy one that does not have an advisory
  label on it. - Charlie Gilreath, Entertainment
  Monitor editor-in-chief
• The fact is censorship always defeats its own
  purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of
  society that is incapable of exercising real
  discretion--in the long run it will create a
  generation incapable of appreciating the
  difference between independence of thought and
  subservience. - Henry Steele Commager, author