Today the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is proud to unveil the new and radically improved CBLDF.org! With a daily news blog and a rich and growing Resources section, we strive to make CBLDF.org your best tool for information about…
By Joe Izenman The 1954 Senate Subcommittee hearings examining the possible relationship between comics and juvenile delinquency remain the most significant moment in the history of comic book censorship. Centered on the testimony of Dr. Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction…
by Mark Bousquet An assignment asking junior high school students to create a political cartoon has resulted in the teacher being fired. Robert Duncan, a teacher at Boyet Junior High School in Slidell, Louisiana was fired earlier this month after…
A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, better known as a SLAPP lawsuit, is a legal action initiated by a party with the primary purpose of causing its opponent to succumb to the pressures of litigation. Often times, the party filing…
What if “liking” a page on Facebook could cost you your job?
A judge in Virginia ruled last spring that Facebook “likes” are not protected under the First Amendment. According to U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson, “merely ‘liking’ a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection.”
How far should newspaper editorial go to protect their free speech in the face of business-crippling boycott? What dangerous precedents are set by self-censorship? Ferial Haffajee, editor of the South African City Press, faced these concerns at their most difficult…
According to reports from The New York Times and Playbill.com, lawyers representing DLT Enterprises — the company that owns the copyright to the television series Three’s Company — have sent playwright David Adjmi a letter demanding he cease putting on…
On July 24th, the New York City Police Department sent two plainclothes cops to paint over a mural that had listed the NYPD alongside multinational corporations and government agencies under the headline, “Murderers.” While artist Alan Ket had permission from…
Last Friday, after widespread criticism of delays in eliminating its censorship board, the government of Myanmar announced that it was forming an interim council to regulate the press until the new media law is enacted. The 20-member council is comprised…
When Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra e-mailed a cartoon mocking an Indian politician to friends, he probably didn’t expect to be arrested by local police in a midnight raid. Appallingly, Mahapatra and neighbor Subrata Sengupta were arrested in such a…