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ABFFE
UPDATE
March
26, 2009 Previously
in ABFFE Update
Volume 11,
Number 3
ABFFE Opposes Bill to Confiscate Blagojevich Book
Advance
 On
March 9, ABFFE joined other book and media groups in opposing a bill in
the Illinois legislature that would force former Governor Rod R.
Blagojevich to forfeit an advance he will receive for writing a book. In
early March, Blagojevich announced that he had signed a contract worth
“six-figures” for a book exposing “the dark side” of state and national
politics. Phoenix Books is publishing the book later this year. Incensed
that the disgraced governor might be profiting from illegal conduct, an
Illinois legislator introduced a bill that requires a public official
convicted of a crime to forfeit money received for any published account
of it. “The people of Illinois certainly have a right to be angry at
Blagojevich, but the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that government
threatens free speech when it attempts to punish people for what they
say–even convicted felons,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said.
ABFFE expressed its opposition to House Bill 4078 in a letter to the
Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and members of the
House Committee on State Government.
The letter is
available online
here.
ABFFE Protests Topeka Library Restrictions
 In
early March, ABFFE joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)
and groups representing publishers, writers and librarians in urging
members of the Topeka, Kansas, library board to restore The Joy of
Sex and three other sex education books to the open shelves of the
library. On Feb. 19, five members of the library board ignored the pleas
of the library staff, three other board members, and 14 of the 16 people
who spoke during a public hearing and voted to remove The Joy of Sex,
The Joy of Gay Sex, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, and Sex for
Busy People from the library's health section because they are
allegedly "harmful to minors" under Kansas law. The books are to be made
available only at the specific request of adult patrons. "The board's
action violates the central purpose of a library-to provide the material
that its patrons want, no matter how controversial," ABFFE President
Chris Finan said.
The letter from ABFFE, NCAC, the Association of American Publishers, PEN
American Center and the Freedom to Read Foundation charges that
restricting access to the books will discourage adults from requesting
them. It also challenges the view that the books are "harmful to minors"
simply because some people in the community may consider them so.
Click here to
read the letter.
ABFFE Joins Call for End of Ideological Exclusion of
Foreigners
On March 18, ABFFE
joined ACLU and dozens of academic, free speech and civil liberties
groups in urging an end to the Bush administration's policy of excluding
foreign visitors based on their ideological views, including their
criticisms of the American government. In a letter to Attorney General
Eric H. Holder, Jr., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of
Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, the groups charge that dozens of
foreign scholars, writers, artists and activists have been barred from
entering the United States because their ideas were judged threatening
to the country. "Ideological exclusion impoverishes academic and
political debate inside the United States," the letter said. "It sends
the message to the world that our country is more interested in
silencing than engaging its critics. It undermines our ability to
support political dissidents in other countries."
One of the best known cases of ideological exclusion involves Tariq
Ramadan, a University of Oxford professor who was invited to teach at
the University of Notre Dame in 2004. The State Department revoked his
visa on the grounds that he had “endorse[d] or espouse[d]” terrorism.
This claim was later dropped, but the government continues to fight a
lawsuit that seeks to overturn its decision. The U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit will hear arguments in the case on Tuesday. ABFFE
has joined two amicus briefs supporting the lawsuit, including one in
the appeals court.
The letter to Holder, Clinton and Napolitano is available online
here. To sign an ACLU petition opposing ideological exclusion, click
here.
Seattle Bookstore Reporters Program Wins Award
 A
cable TV program about the importance of protecting the
confidentiality of news sources that was produced and moderated by a
Seattle bookseller has won an award from the Alliance for Community
Media, an organization committed to expanding public access to
electronic media. The program, "Shining the Light on Reporters and
the Law," won a "Best of the Northwest" award in the Democracy in
Action category and will now become an entry in the Alliance's
national competition.
Phil Bevis, owner of Arundel Books, asked the Downtown Seattle
Republican Club to sponsor the event, "Shining the Light on Reporters
and the Law," in a downtown hotel. The discussion featured four
journalists, including the publisher of the
Seattle Times; Washington
Attorney General Rob McKenna; two area Congressmen, Republican Dave
Reichert and Democrat Jay Inslee; and media attorney Bruce Johnson of
Davis Wright Tremaine. Bevis produced and moderated the program,
which was broadcast statewide on several cable access channels.
The program is online
here.
The 2008 event was one of a series of more than 40 programs in which
reporters visited bookstores to talk about the role that confidential
sources play in reporting. Sponsored by ABFFE and the MLRC Institute,
a not-for-profit educational organization focused on the media and the
First Amendment, the talks were part of the MLRC Institute's First
Amendment Speakers Bureau, which was created in 2005 to educate the
public about the First Amendment. Development of the Speakers Bureau
has been funded by a grant from the McCormick Foundation.
Show Your Support for Freadom!
ABFFE's
popular "freadom" t-shirts, buttons, bookmarks, bumper
stickers and more are available during Banned Books Week and all year round.
To
order online, visit the ABFFE store.
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