Congressional efforts to pass a federal Media Shield Law, which would introduce additional protections for journalists from government interference and surveillance, are being stymied as the U.S. Senate tries to solve a question of definition: Who do we consider “real”…
Category: Features
Thailand’s Overzealous Censors
Thailand doesn’t skimp when it comes to censorship. According to a recent article by Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku, the country’s scrupulous censorship laws commonly disrupt the dubbed anime that is broadcast on Thai television. Whatever is deemed inappropriate — be…
Author Responds to Attempts to Ban The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Recently, two attempts have been made to remove Stephen Chbosky’s acclaimed The Perks of Being a Wallflower from schools. This is nothing new for the novel, which has made ALA’s most challenged books list several times. The National Coalition Against…
Syria Continues Campaign Against Dissenting Artists
A cartoonist who co-signed a 2011 document calling for the removal of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and his government was arrested in late July, one more in an ongoing string of arrests, harassment, and disappearances of dissenting Syrian cartoonists. Cartoonists…
Join CBLDF in the Windy City for Wizard World Chicago!
While CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein is headed to Japan, CBLDF Deputy Director Alex Cox is headed a bit closer to home this weekend: Wizard World Chicago Comic Con! You’ll find CBLDF at booth #1141 in the Donald E. Stephens…
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein to Visit Tokyo for Manga Freedom Speaking Tour
This weekend, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will literally travel to the other side of the world — to Tokyo, Japan — for a series of lectures and meetings on manga and free expression, hosted by Comic Market (Comiket), Comitia,…
Obscenity Case Files: Memoirs v. Massachusetts
In 1966, eleven years after the decision in Roth v. United States held that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment and attempted to define obscene speech, came the landmark case of Memoirs v. Massachusetts. This case is about…
CBLDF Joins Amicus Brief Opposing Content-Based Taxation in New York
CBLDF and other members of the Media Coalition have joined forces to file an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, asking them to review a lower court’s decision in New Loudon Corp. v. State of N.Y. Tax Appeals Tribunal. The…
HarperCollins India and the Pixelated Penises
When Canadian comics artist Chester Brown’s graphic novel memoir Paying For It — about his encounters with 23 different prostitutes — was first published in 2011, it received generally favorable reviews and was widely applauded for its honesty. But in…
CBLDF Joins Defense of The Bluest Eye and Speak
This week, CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project sent two letters on behalf of challenged books: One defends the use of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye in schools in Colorado, and the second defends Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which is…