The US Bill of Rights guarantees the rights of citizens to speak and publish freely. Nevertheless, certain forms of speech, such as obscenity and libel, are restricted by the government in the majority of media outlets. Image of the United States Bill of Rights from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration The United States Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

Broadcast media censorship

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates "indecent" free-to-air broadcasting. It can issue fines if, for example, the broadcaster employs certain swear words. Radio personality Howard Stern has been a frequent target of fines. This led to his leaving broadcast radio and signing on with Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004. The Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy increased the political pressure on the FCC to vigorously police the airwaves. In addition, Congress increased the maximum fine the FCC may levy from US $268,500 to US $375,000 per incident. The FCCs official seal. ... Free-to-air is a phrase used to describe television and radio broadcasts which are available without subscription and without decryption (pay-TV). ... The seven dirty words are seven English words comedian George Carlin listed in his monologue Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television, released in 1972 on his album Class Clown. ... For the former personal attorney and partner of Anna Nicole Smith, see Howard K. Stern. ... Sirius Satellite Radio NASDAQ: SIRI is one of two satellite radio (SDARS) services operating in the United States and Canada, along with XM Satellite Radio. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Super Bowl XXXVIII, which aired live on February 1, 2004 in Houston, Texas, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were performing a medley/duet of their songs Rhythm Nation/Rock Your Body, which featured many suggestive dance moves by both Timberlake and... Congress in Joint Session. ...

Critics of Television Broadcast Media throughout the latter half of the 20th century on into the 21st have expressed their concerns regarding the filtration of content being offered to citizens of the United States through the modern-day journalism platform. They argue that media conglomerates within the U.S. are responsible for painting a very limited/pointed picture of U.S. government involvement throughout the world, and further argue that this causes uninformed political support by U.S. citizens.

The Office of Censorship, an emergency wartime agency, heavily censored reporting during World War II. On December 19, 1941 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8985, which established the Office of Censorship and conferred on its director the power to censor international communications in "his absolute discretion." Byron Price was selected as the Director of Censorship. However, the censorship was not limited to reporting. "Every letter that crossed international or U.S. territorial borders from December 1941 to August 1945 was subject to being opened and scoured for details."^[1] Since that time war censorship had been relatively light until the advent of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. In January of 1991, a few weeks before the U.S.-led UN invasion of Iraq during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney had the Pentagon issue a ban on media coverage of returning war casualties.^{[citation needed]} The Office of Censorship was an emergency wartime agency set up on December 19, 1941 to aid in the censorship of all communications coming into and going out of the United States. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Office of Censorship was an emergency wartime agency set up on December 19, 1941 to aid in the censorship of all communications coming into and going out of the United States. ... Byron Price (1891-1981) was director of the Office of Censorship for the United States government during World War II. For his role, he was recognized with the Pulitzer Prize. ...

Several past controversies were the failed attempt to prevent the publication of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War and the daily televising of the Iran Hostage Crisis by the national broadcast media, that is believed to have led to the re-election loss of Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Pentagon Papers is the colloquial term for United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, a 47 volume, 7,000-page, top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States political and military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

In 1979, the magazine The Progressive was sued by the U.S. government (United States v. The Progressive, Inc.) and temporarily blocked from publishing an article that purported to reveal the "secret" of the hydrogen bomb. The article was eventually published. For the song by The Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics and culture with a pronounced left-of-center perspective. ... The cover of the November 1979 The Progressive which the United States Department of Energy attempted to censor. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 and the Atomic Energy Act of 1956, patents may be withheld and kept secret on grounds of national security. This article needs to be wikified. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Almost a year after World War II ended, Congress established the United States Atomic Energy Commission to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On September 11, 2005 the American Civil Liberty Union reports: September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non_governmental organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. ...

30,000 National Security Letters Issued Annually Demanding Information about Americans: Patriot Act Removed Need for FBI to Connect Records to Suspected Terrorists

[...] According to the Washington Post, universities and casinos have received these letters and been forced to comply with the demands to turn over private student and customer information. Anyone who receives an NSL is gagged - forever - from telling anyone that the FBI demanded records, even if their identity has already been made public.

In New York and Connecticut, the ACLU has challenged the NSL provision that was dramatically expanded by Section 505 of the Patriot Act. The legislation amended the existing NSL power by permitting the FBI to demand records of people who are not connected to terrorism and who are not suspected of any wrongdoing. [...]

In February of 2004, a study was released by the national media watchdog group FAIR. According to the study, which took place during October of 2003, current or former government or military officials accounted for 76 percent of all 319 sources for news stories about Iraq which aired on network news channels. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Roundabouts (or carousels) are traditional attractions, often seen at fairs. ...

In 1997, Congress voted unanimously to add an amendment to a Department of Defense spending bill forbidding the distribution of instructions that teach "the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction" if those instructions are intended to assist in the actual building and use of such a device. This was known as Feinstein Amendment SP 419.

Censorship of Pornography

US courts have ruled that the First Amendment protects "indecent" pornography from regulation, but not "obscene" pornography. Enforcement of federal obscenity laws has increased under the Bush administration. People convicted of distributing obscene pornography face long prison terms and asset forfeiture. The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόρνη (porne) prostitute and γραφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Asset forfeiture is often used to describe the confiscation of assets, by the State, that were used to facilitate crime against people, property, or the State itself. ...

In 1996, Congress passed Communications Decency Act, with the aim of restricting Internet pornography. Court rulings have struck down much of the law, however. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Congress in Joint Session. ... The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was arguably the first attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet, in response to public concerns in 1996. ... Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed via the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. ...

A widely publicized case of prosecuting alleged obscenity occurred in 1990, when the Cincinnati Arts Center agreed to hold an art show featuring the work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. His work included several artistic nude photographs of males and was deemed offensive by some people for this reason. This resulted in the prosecution of the center and its director, who were later acquitted. Robert Mapplethorpe (November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, famous for his large-scale, highly-stylized black & white portraits, photos of flowers and male nudes. ...

In the early 1990s, Mike Diana became the first American artist to be convicted for obscenity for drawing cartoons that were judged legally obscene. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The export of cryptography software is regulated as a munition under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, although in recent years the regulations have relaxed, due in part to industry lobbying. The German Lorenz cipher machine, used in World War II for encryption of very high-level general staff messages Cryptography (or cryptology; derived from Greek κρυπτός kryptós hidden, and the verb γράφω gráfo write) is the study of message secrecy. ... International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a set of United States government regulations that control the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List. ...

Daniel J. Bernstein challenged the regulations (see Bernstein v. United States) on First Amendment grounds and won his case, but some regulations remain. See also export of cryptography. Daniel Julius Bernstein (sometimes known simply as djb; born October 29, 1971) is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a mathematician, a cryptologist, and a programmer. ... Bernstein v. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Since World War II, Western governments, including the U.S. and its NATO allies have regulated the export of cryptography for national security considerations. ...

Libel

Main article: Slander and libel, United States law Libel redirects here. ...

In the Internet era, libel laws are increasingly being used against individuals expressing their views in public forums. Although it is difficult to win a libel case in the U.S., it can still be an effective means of intimidation and deterrence, since defending oneself against a lawsuit is expensive and time consuming. See also SLAPP. In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) is a form of litigation filed by a large corporation or in some cases an individual plaintiff, to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism. ...

Public figures like entertainers and politicians will often have their cases thrown out of court if they file a libel lawsuit. For instance, public officials cannot file a lawsuit if someone makes a caricature of them or insults them. Public figure is a legal term applied in the context of defamation actions (libel and slander). ... A common caricature of Charles Darwin focuses on his beard, eyebrows, and baldness, while often giving him the features of an ape or monkey. ...

Documents sealed by court order

On January 4, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Weinstein issued a temporary restraining order forbidding a number of activists and their organizations in the psychiatric survivors movement, including MindFreedom International and the Alliance for Human Research Protection from disseminating ostensibly leaked documents purporting to show that Eli Lilly and Company knowingly concealed information on potentially lethal side-effects of Zyprexa for years [1]. The "Zyprexa documents" had been sealed by an earlier court order in a mass tort case; they were widely disseminated after Alaska attorney James Gottstein issued a subpoena for them in an unrelated case. The Electronic Frontier Foundation came to the defense of one of the parties silenced by the restraining order to defend the First Amendment right of internet journalists to post links to relevant documents on wikis, blogs, and other web pages [2]. While Eli Lilly maintains that the documents were illegally obtained and should not be part of the public domain, critics cite the leaked Pentagon Papers as precedent for the right of individuals to report on the existence and contents of such documents, and in this particular case, maintain that court sealing of documents should never be allowed to protect individuals or corporations from criminal liability [3]. Jack B. Weinstein (born 1921, Kansas) is a United States federal judge in the Eastern District of New York. ... An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels (enjoins or restrains) a party from continuing a particular activity. ... A number of people considered ill and needing treatment by specific psychiatrists or psychiatric doctrine in general do not perceive benefit from the services offered or forced upon them. ... A banner ad for MindFreedom International MindFreedom International is a coalition of over 100 grassroots groups and thousands of individual members in 14 nations committed to winning and protecting the human rights of people labeled with psychiatric disorders. ... Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company and one of the worlds largest corporations. ... Olanzapine (Zyprexa® or in a combination with fluoxetine as Symbyax®) was the second atypical antipsychotic to gain FDA approval and has become one of the most commonly used atypical antipsychotics. ... James B. Jim Gottstein, JD, is an Alaska based lawyer who specializes in business matters and public land law, and is well known as an attorney advocate for people diagnosed with serious mental illness. ... A subpoena is a writ commanding a person to appear under penalty (from Latin). ... EFF Logo The EFF uses the blue ribbon as symbolism for their Free Speech defense. ... The Pentagon Papers is the colloquial term for United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, a 47 volume, 7,000-page, top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States political and military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945...

Censorship in the past

• Alien and Sedition Acts
• Production Code
• Comics Code Authority

======== many recent edits that had nothing to do with article. ... The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) was a set of industry guidelines governing the production of American motion pictures. ... The seal of the Comics Code Authority, which appears on the covers of approved comic books. ...

References

1. ^ Fiset, Louis. Return to Sender: U.S. Censorship of Enemy Alien Mail in World War II, Prologue Magazine Spring 2001, Vol. 33, No. 1. Retrieved from U.S. Government National Archives.

See also

• Civil liberties of the United States
• Corporate media
• First Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Freedom of speech in the United States
• Freedom of the press
• List of prominent cases argued by Floyd Abrams
• United States obscenity law
• Prior restraint

This article needs cleanup. ... Corporate media is a term of derision used by some media critics in the political discourse in the United States and elsewhere, particularly by leftists and progressives, to imply that the mainstream media is manipulated by large multinational corporations. ... For other uses, see First Amendment (disambiguation). ... Citizens of the United States often treat free speech as a fundamental right and often a matter of patriotism. ... Freedom of the press (or press freedom) is the guarantee by a government of free public press for its citizens and their associations, extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. ... Floyd Abrams This page contains a list and short descriptions of Floyd Abrams most influential and famous cases. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... Prior restraint is a legal term referring to a governments actions that prevent materials from being published. ...

Rating systems and industry self-regulation

• MPAA film rating system
• Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
• Comics Code Authority
• TV Parental Guidelines
• Parental Advisory (music)

The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and territories and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ... The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in the United States and Canada (officially adopted by individual provinces 2004-2005). ... The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in the United States and Canada (officially adopted by individual provinces 2004-2005). ... The seal of the Comics Code Authority, which appears on the covers of approved comic books. ... // United States Ratings The TV Parental Guidelines system was introduced on January 1, 1996 in the United States in response to public complaints of increasingly explicit sexual and violent content, and use of scatology, in television programs. ... The Parental Advisory sticker is found on some records. ...

Related techniques of suppression

• Slander and libel
• Propaganda
• Media manipulation

Libel redirects here. ... An Australian anti-conscription propaganda poster from World War One U.S. propaganda poster, which warns against civilians sharing information on troop movements (National Archives) The much-imitated 1914 Lord Kitchener Wants You! poster Swedish Anti-Euro propaganda for the referendum of 2003. ... Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. ...

Free speech advocates

• American Civil Liberties Union
• Center for Democracy and Technology
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange
• American Library Association
• National Coalition Against Censorship

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization with headquarters in New York City, whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It... The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) is a Washington, DC based non-profit advocacy group that works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the Digital Age. ... EFF Logo The EFF uses the blue ribbon as symbolism for their Free Speech defense. ... International Freedom of Expression eXchange. ... ALA Logo The American Library Association (ALA) is a group based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. ... The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. ...

External links

• Administration of the Invention Secrecy Act
• Banned Magazine, the online journal of censorship and secrecy
• Fairness Doctrine Vetoed by both Ronald Reagan and G.H.W. Bush
• Music censorship incidents and issues in the US - reported by Freemuse