Every April the Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression bestows its Muzzle Awards, dishonoring “those individuals and institutions responsible for the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to free speech during the preceding year.” In a departure…
Category: News Blog
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CBLDF Podcast Episode 16: Black Panther Artist BRIAN STELFREEZE
In this episode, CBLDF Editorial Director Betsy Gomez talks with artist Brian Stelfreeze (Day Men), hot off the launch of the what is likely the year’s biggest release: the new Black Panther series with author Ta-Nehisi Coates from Marvel Comics. Topics: Blaxploitation,…
Dapier Receives Intellectual Freedom Award for Persepolis Research
Jarrett Dapier, the library science scholar whose Freedom of Information Act Request helped to uncover the truth about Chicago Public Schools administrators’ 2013 effort to ban Persepolis from classrooms and libraries, is receiving some well-earned recognition from the American Library…
Bulgarian TV Network Drops Cartoonist Who Mocked Prime Minister
Bulgarians are accusing the privately-owned TV network NOVA of bowing to government pressure last week when it removed all of cartoonist Chavdar Nikolov’s work from its website. Nikolov’s latest animated political cartoon had mocked Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s apparent support…
City Issues Apology for Women’s History Month Censorship
Photographer Brooke Mason may have been at the center of a free speech controversy in West Hollywood, California, after three of her photographs were removed from a Women’s History Month-themed exhibition last month, but inclusion in a new exhibit and…
Petition Against School Play Backfires in New Jersey
Parents in Cape May, New Jersey, protested the Middle Township High School reproduction of the Broadway musical Pippin, saying the usage of profanity and sexual innuendo is, what one person noted, moving kids away from an “ethical and moral lifestyle.”…
Oregon School Bans Sex Ed Book, Disciplines Librarian Who Bought It
The classic — and frequently challenged — sex ed book It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris has reportedly been removed from an elementary school library in Rainier, Oregon, and the librarian who included it in the collection has been disciplined…
Zunar Trial to Proceed After Court Rejects Challenge to Sedition Act
Malaysia’s High Court yesterday rejected cartoonist Zunar’s challenge to the country’s Sedition Act, clearing the way for his long-delayed trial on nine counts of sedition. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 43 years in prison. A…
Indian Cartoonist Orijit Sen on Being a “Voice of Dissent”
Indian cartoonist Orijit Sen is no stranger to censorship. The artist, whose work has been repeatedly pulled from Facebook, recently spoke with Tehelka about why it is important that his “voice of dissent” rubs some people the wrong way and…
Egyptian Puppet Charged With “Violating Public Morality”
A wildly popular satirical puppet who appears on Egyptian television is being called into court on June 26, accused of “violating public morality” with her bawdy jokes. The case against Abla Fahita (Aunt Fajita) was brought by lawyer Samir Sabry,…