This book provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of laws and norms regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a particular focus on free speech rights and restrictions for individuals, politicians, corporations, and news organizations. Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts is part of a series that uses evidence-based documentation to examine the veracity of claims and beliefs about high-profile issues in American culture and politics. This volume examines beliefs, claims, and myths about free speech and censorship issues in American society, including landmark court decisions and evolving cultural values that have shaped our understanding of the First Amendment and the liberties it enshrines and protects. Specific chapters in the volume explore basic principles of free speech; unprotected types of speech; conditionally protected speech; restrictions and regulations governing protected speech; free speech limitations in school settings; the corrosive impact of politicians and social media platforms that spread distortions and falsehoods under free speech pretexts; and free speech as a general cultural ideal. Together, these chapters will provide readers with a thorough and accurate grounding in their First Amendment rights and responsibilities.

This annotated document collection surveys the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a special emphasis on contemporary events and controversies related to the First Amendment. The United States' collective understanding of First Amendment freedoms was formed by more than 200 years of tensions between the power of word and the power of the government. During that time, major laws and legal decisions defined the circumstances and degree to which personal expression could be rightfully expressed—and rightfully limited. This struggle to define the parameters of free speech continues today. Vibrant and passionate debates about First Amendment limitations once inspired by the dissemination of birth control information now address such issues as kneeling during the national anthem, removing controversial books from public libraries, attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the press, and disseminating false or hateful information through social media platforms. By exploring diverse examples of censorship victories and triumphs of free expression, readers will better understand the enormous impact of First Amendment freedoms on American society.

This book focuses on regulatory challenges of creating and sustaining freedom of speech and freedom of information two decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, in global, comparative context. Some chapters overview, others address specific issues, or describe country case studies. Instead of trying to provide an exhaustive assessment which in one volume might not reach deeper analyzes of contextual details, this book will shed light on and help better understanding of general challenges for freedom of speech and information through varying comparative examples and highlighting important regulatory questions.

This title was first published in 2000: While there are many philosophical studies of free speech, treating censorship historically, politically, or by the medium restricted (films, press etc.), little has been written on censorship and free speech dealing with issues philosophically and approaching them from the perspective of restrictions. This book treats censorship and free speech as a problem of ideas, examining the issues as an aspect of our wider social and political lives and critically examining mainstream arguments against censorship. This unique approach takes issue with the concept of censorship as something aberrant, to examine where the limits of free speech lie in ensuring individual development and collective harmony. Examining the possibility of accepting censorship positively to serve legitimate purposes, it will be a thought-provoking challenge to prescriptive arguments for free speech.

Despite the end of the Cold War, America's national security apparatus for controlling information has remained in place. However, sex and secularism are emerging as the major targets of censorship. Federal decency standards have been imposed on art, the broadcast media, and the Internet. Virtually every major political issue of the 1990s (abortion, campaign finance, violence on TV, homosexuality, indecency on the Internet) has First Amendment implications, and all are included in this comprehensive encyclopedia. This work covers the full history of America's struggle for free expression, as well as the contemporary dynamics represented by pop figures like Frank Zappa, Howard Stern, and Danny Goldberg and politicians like Jesse Helms and Don Edwards. It goes beyond other academic works of its kind by recognizing the primacy of the mass media and the Internet in defining the modern contours of the First Amendment.

The Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship offers a thorough exploration of the debates surrounding this contentious topic, considering the importance placed upon it in democratic societies and the reasons frequently proposed for limiting and constraining it. This volume addresses the various historical, philosophical, political and cultural parameters of censorship and freedom of expression as well as current debates involving technology, journalism and media regulation. Geographically, temporally and culturally diverse accounts of censorship and freedom of expression are discussed through a broad range of perspectives and case studies. This Companion covers core principles and concerns in addition to more specialist and controversial debates, including those surrounding hate speech, holocaust denial, pornography and so-called ‘cancel culture’. The collection pays particular attention to the role of the media in both facilitating and suppressing freedom of expression. Comprehensive, original and timely, The Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship is a go-to resource for scholars and advanced students of media, communication and journalism studies.

In this work, Canadian and American scholars, critics, government officials, and arts presenters discuss varied aspects of the role of government in the arts. The first section addresses general questions of government involvement in the arts in Canada and the U.S., and also presents a comparison of North American arts policy with governmental policy toward the arts in Western Europe. The second section examines government policies toward arts education and cultural exchange in Canada and the U.S. The final section examines the tensions that arise concerning free expression and censorship when the governments of Canada and the U.S. allocate funds to support particular artists, programs, or projects.

Americans are sharply divided on the issue of Internet censorship. This book examines the history of censorship in the United States as well as current federal, state, and local laws. It provides the opinions and perspectives of government and business leaders, activists, and ordinary Americans on both sides of the issue.

Socially organized activity cannot occur without censorship. Going beyond ideological arguments, this collections of essays explores the extent of censorship in Canada today, the forms censorship takes, and the interests it serves.

Film censorship has always been a controversial matter, particularly in jurisdictions with restrictive state-based censorship systems. This book reviews the film censorship system in the Asia-Pacific by comparing the systems used in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. It identifies the key issues and concerns that arise from the design and implementation of the system by examining the censorship laws, policies, guidelines and processes. The book evaluates film practitioners' and censors' opinion of, and experience in, dealing with those issues, and goes on to develop reform proposals for the film censorship system.