The first book-length study to examine the re-writing of school textbooks by the Japanese Education Ministry in an attempt to play down atrocities in China during World War II. The famous textbook crisis in 1982 was at the centre of a diplomatic storm extending through the 1980s as Sino-Japanese relations were beset by a series of political controversies. This fascinating account of the period reveals that Chinese and Japanese policy-makers were more concerned with changes taking place in international and domestic politics than with adopting a correct view of history.

In the past several years, hundreds of challenges a year to books used in public schools have been reported across the nation. Most of these have come from the Religious Right. This book confronts the attacks on public education and commonly used literature books by challenging the religious assumptions, the biblical interpretations, and the intimidation tactics of the Religious Right. Part I counters the claims of these censors by presenting opposing views on democracy, secular humanism, religion, the Bible, morality, and the purposes of literature. In Part II, six books frequently taught in high school classes are analyzed. Edwards shows why they have been challenged by the Religious Right, and presents a case for their moral and religious virtues as well as their literary worth. The book differs from other anti-censorship works because it deals primarily and directly with the religious and moral aspects that educators often tend to avoid. This book offers teachers and school administrators scholarly conterarguments that can help confront with literature challenges from the Religious Right.

An essay in literary criticism with a difference, addressing the nature of blasphemy and using selected novels by Salman Rushdie, Najib Mahfuz and Nikos Kazantzakis as case studies.

Schools need to be able to regulate sexting, but at what point are administrators infringing on students' rights? Is teenage sexting a violation of child pornography laws? This book tackles these tough issues and others. In several states, teenagers who engage in "sexting" could be in violation of child pornography laws-and if convicted of such, teens could end up on sex offender lists with rapists and child molesters. The authors of this text examine this thorny issue, arguing that teenagers who have engaged in consensual sexting should not automatically be punished under child pornography laws. Equally important: the book presents in-depth analysis of the issue of school regulations on sexting pursuant to the Free Speech Clause. This book is the first volume devoted to the topic of consensual student sexting, and how the First Amendment may apply to this unique 21st-century phenomenon. It provides an overview of sexting laws in the United States and does a thorough job of discussing the First Amendment issues that all policymakers, educators, and child advocates should be aware of. Provides clear analysis of current child pornography statutes and case law Discusses the unintended consequences of sexting to the lives of teenagers Presents suggestions regarding how pornography laws can be adjusted to account for adolescent behavior in the modern context

Jack Censer's achievement in "The French Press in the Age of Enlightenment" is to marshal a vast literature in order to provide a coherent and original interpretation of the role of the French press in the dissemination of social and political ideas in the pre-revolution years. With 1,000 titles and thousands of journalists, the periodical constituted an important phenomenon in French intellectual life; yet scholars in the absence of a synthetic treatment have failed to integrate it into their accounts. This study allows construction of a far richer picture of the politics and intellectual life of the period, and counters the standard view of the Old Regime political system as already fatally undermined well before the revolution.
The first half of the book considers the message in the political press, literary and philosophical journals, and local advertisers, while the remainder analyzes readers and reading, the role of government, and the personnel of the press. These subjects contribute to a number of different historical debates, including current discussions of the identity and the role of readers. This book gives a strikingly new historical analysis of the period immediately before 1789.

First published in 1988. This book shows how censorship as a set of institutions, practices and discourses was involved in the struggle over the nature of cinema in the early twentieth century. It also reveals the part played in this struggle by other institutions, practices and discourses - for example 'new' knowledge about sexuality and organisations devoted to the promotion of public morality. Instead of censorship simply being an act of prohibition by a special institution, this work reveals the issues at work were far more complex and contradictory - opening up critical scrutiny and challenging assumptions. This title will be of interest to students of media and film studies.

This issue includes articles on the current differences and debates between feminists on the questions around pornography and censorship. This book should be of interest to general, as well as students of women's studies, women's history, sociology and literature by women.

This book demonstrates how people were kept ignorant by censorship and indoctrinated by propaganda. Censorship suppressed all information that criticized the army and government, that might trouble the population or weaken its morale. Propaganda at home emphasized the superiority of the fatherland, explained setbacks by blaming scapegoats, vilified and ridiculed the enemy, warned of the disastrous consequences of defeat and extolled duty and sacrifice. The propaganda message also infiltrated entertainment and the visual arts. Abroad it aimed to demoralize enemy troops and stir up unrest among national minorities and other marginalized groups. The many illustrations and organograms provide a clear visual demonstration of Demm's argument.

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.

In 1994, artistic freedom pertaining inter alia to literature was enshrined in the South African Constitution. Clearly, the establishment of this right was long overdue compared to other nations within the Commonwealth. Indeed, the legal framework and practices regarding the regulation of literature that were introduced following the nation's transition to a non-racial democracy seemed to form a decisive turning point in the history of South African censorship of literature. This study employs a historical sociological point of view to describe how the nation's emerging literary field helped pave the way for the constitutional entrenchment of this right in 1994. On the basis of institutional and poetological analyses of all the legal trials concerning literature that were held in South Africa during the period 1910-2010, it describes how the battles fought in and around the courts between literary, judicial and executive elites eventually led to a constitutional exceptio artis for literature. As the South African judiciary displayed an ongoing orientation towards both English and American law in this period, the analyses are firmly placed in the context of developments occurring concurrently in these two legal systems.

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.

Here is an inside look at how a Congressional Committee, supported by the Nixon White House, sought to establish control over broadcast news by investigating editorial news judgment. Frank Stanton, legendary President of CBS, refused to produce outtakes from the award-winning documentary, The Selling of the Pentagon, subpoenaed by the Committee in an attempt to condemn the program and CBS. The Committee voted to hold Stanton and CBS in contempt, and the House of Representatives held a full debate on its power to investigate and control broadcast news. Had Stanton not taken up the fight he describes to gain First Amendment protection, broadcast news would have been shaped by Congressional hearings and intimidation. Will new electronic media publishers resist such government efforts on the Information Superhighway? Fighting for the First Amendment can serve as a model for that struggle. Finally Stanton's story is told in his own words in this extraordinary account of his fight to secure First Amendment freedom for the news media. This remarkable book examines the ongoing conflict between media and government and dismisses the theory that press regulation by a government agency is desirable. CBS's fight over The Selling of the Pentagon clearly illustrates how government interference can keep vital information from the public. Broadcast news history shows that press regulations are not benign-despite government claims-and once they are in place, neither great resources nor the urgent need for truth may fully remove them. As public opinion polls show increasing support for such regulations, Stanton's story serves as a timely reminder of the need for a press free of government interference as print, cable, broadcast and satellite news move onto the Information Superhighway.

As Americans we often take our freedom of speech for granted. When we talk about censorship we talk about China, the former Soviet Union. But the recent presidential election has shined a spotlight on profound acts of censorship in our own backyard. Both provocative and timely, "Burn this Book" includes a sterling list of award-winning writers; it is sure to ignite spirited dialogue. In "Witness: The Inward Testimony", Nadine Gordimer discusses the role of the writer as observer, and as someone who sees what is really taking place. She looks to Proust, Oe, Flaubert, Graham Green to see how their philosophy squares with her own, ultimately concluding Literature has been and remains a means of people rediscovering themselves. In "Freedom to Write", Orham Pamuk elegantly describes escorting Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter around Turkey and how that experience changed his life. In "The Value of the Word" Salman Rushdie shares a story from Bugakov's novel "The Master and the Margarita", in which the Devil talks to a frustrated writer called The Master. The writer is so upset with his own work he decides to burn it: How could you do that? The devil asks. Manuscripts do not burn. Indeed, manuscripts do not burn, Rushdie argues, but writers do.

"Sex and Violence" examines the history and social dynamics of film censorship in the United States. It examines censorship controversies throughout film history, from the beginning of cinema in the 1890s to the present. The book focuses both on formal censorship systems, including state and local censorship boards and industry self-regulation efforts, to unofficial censorship rendered by pressure groups and powerful social movements. It probes beneath the official rhetoric and explanations, revealing sensitive, festering controversies.The book critically examines dozens of Hollywood s most controversial (and interesting) movies, focusing on recurring issues and censorship themes. The book reveals the social and political processes of vetting films and their effect on film form and content. In addition, it examines the use of sexuality and violence in movies and the effects of movie censorship on those issues. Finally, it analyzes and makes recommendations for dramatic changes in motion picture ratings."

Helps scholars to examine historical press censorship in England. This title draws together around 500 texts, reaching across 140 years from the rigours of the Elizabethan Star Chamber Decree to the publication of "Cato's Letters", which famously advanced principles of free speech.

"Sex and Violence" examines the history and social dynamics of film censorship in the United States. It examines censorship controversies throughout film history, from the beginning of cinema in the 1890s to the present. The book focuses both on formal censorship systems, including state and local censorship boards and industry self-regulation efforts, to unofficial censorship rendered by pressure groups and powerful social movements. It probes beneath the official rhetoric and explanations, revealing sensitive, festering controversies.The book critically examines dozens of Hollywood s most controversial (and interesting) movies, focusing on recurring issues and censorship themes. The book reveals the social and political processes of vetting films and their effect on film form and content. In addition, it examines the use of sexuality and violence in movies and the effects of movie censorship on those issues. Finally, it analyzes and makes recommendations for dramatic changes in motion picture ratings."

For well over a decade, half-baked analysis and phony science have been used by some feminists to side-track the women's movement into puritanical campaigns against sexual material and imaginative sexual exploration. Many feminists would say that this widely publicised version of feminism is itself sexist, and that the increasingly vocal anti-pornography campaigns are founded on theoretical dead-ends that have allowed feminists to deviate drastically from the basic goals of women's liberation. Bad Girls & Dirty Pictures puts these anti-sex, anti-porn arguments under the microscope of a more thorough and considered feminist analysis. It examines the flaws in the research that purports to prove the harm of pornography and warns against the continuing use of censorship by politicians and the moral right, as well as exposing the dangers of anti-porn feminist arguments. Contributions from a wide range of women, including sex workers and academics, remind us that pornography does not have a special place in our oppression, and that censorship must still be seen as dangerous enemy of women. Bad Girls & Dirty Pictures is a much-needed antidote to falsehoods, shabby thinking, and patronising sexism that have fuelled anti-pornography campaigns and misled the women's movement.

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away. Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, "Twitter wars" produce real-world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones. P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind-bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war. They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts? Delving into the web's darkest corners, we meet the unexpected warriors of social media, such as the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars against the West. Finally, looking to the crucial years ahead, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world.

The invention of printing - a key moment in the history of censorship - gave new impetus to the holders of intellectual and political power in their struggle to influence and control human thought. Conversely, the invention of cyberspace may herald the end of censorship. Yet new ways of restricting access to ideas and information continually evolve. This work presents a comprehensive view of censorship, from Ancient Egypt to those modern societies which have claimed to have abolished the practice. For each country in the world, the history of censorship is described and placed in context, and the media censored are examined: art cyberspace; literature; music; the press; popular culture; radio; television and the theatre; and the censorship of language. Also included are the surveys of major controversies and chronicles of resistance.

Through a series of interview with prominent Romanian literary figures and a selection of their writings, Lidia Vianu asks how, under Communism, did Romanian writers cope with constant ideological shifts and, in turn, respond to the censorship that so often accompanied such changes? Now that Romania has emerged from almost 50 years of Communist rule, what is the current status of censorship?

Censorship in Romania offers a series of subversive writings that not only indicted Communism but were also widely embraced by the Romanian public.

After being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange is now in a high security prison in London where he faces extradition to the United States and imprisonment for the rest of his life. The charges Assange faces are a major threat to press freedom. James Goodale, who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, commented: "The charge against Assange for 'conspiring' with a source is the most dangerous I can think of with respect to the First Amendment in all my years representing media organizations." It is critical now to build support for Assange and prevent his delivery into the hands of the Trump administration. That is the urgent purpose of this book. A wide range of distinguished contributors, many of them in original pieces, here set out the story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the importance of their work, and the dangers for us all in the persecution they face. In Defense of Julian Assange is a vivid, vital intervention into one of the most important political issues of our day.

The WikiLeaks publisher and free speech campaigner Julian Assange has, since April 2019, been remanded at a maximum security prison in London facing extradition to the United States over WikiLeaks' groundbreaking 2010 publications. Now, in this crisp anthology, Assange's voice emerges - erudite, analytic and prophetic. Julian Assange In His Own Words provides a highly accessible survey of Assange's philosophy and politics, conveying his views on how governments, corporations, intelligence agencies and the media function. As well as addressing the significance of the vast trove of leaked documents published by WikiLeaks, Assange draws on a polymathic intelligence to range freely over quantum physics, Greek mythology, macroeconomics, modern literature, and empires old and new. Drawing on his insights as the world's most famous free speech activist Assange invites us to ask further questions about how power operates in a world increasingly dominated by a ubiquitous internet. Assange may be gagged, but in these pages his words run free, providing both an exhortation to fight for a better world and an inspiration when doing so.

A powerful portrait of the greatest humanitarian emergency of our time, from the director of Human Flow In the course of making Human Flow, his epic feature documentary about the global refugee crisis, the artist Ai Weiwei and his collaborators interviewed more than 600 refugees, aid workers, politicians, activists, doctors, and local authorities in twenty-three countries around the world. A handful of those interviews were included in the film. This book presents one hundred of these conversations in their entirety, providing compelling first-person stories of the lives of those affected by the crisis and those on the front lines of working to address its immense challenges. Speaking in their own words, refugees give voice to their experiences of migrating across borders, living in refugee camps, and struggling to rebuild their lives in unfamiliar and uncertain surroundings. They talk about the dire circumstances that drove them to migrate, whether war, famine, or persecution; and their hopes and fears for the future. A wide range of related voices provides context for the historical evolution of this crisis, the challenges for regions and states, and the options for moving forward. Complete with photographs taken by Ai Weiwei while filming Human Flow, this book provides a powerful, personal, and moving account of the most urgent humanitarian crisis of our time.

Beginning in the nineteenth century with Anthony Comstock, America's 'censor in chief,' The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder explores how censors operate and why they wore out their welcome in society at large. This book explains how the same tactics were tried and eventually failed in the twentieth century, with efforts to censor music, comic books, television, and other forms of popular entertainment. The historic examples illustrate not just the mindset and tactics of censors, but why they are the ultimate counterculture warriors and why, in free societies, censors never occupy the moral high ground. This book is for anyone who wants to know more about why freedom of speech is important and how protections for free expression became part of the American identity.