American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
FEN Representatives:
Ann Springer Rachel Levinson
Staff Counsel Associate Staff Counsel
aspringer@aaup.org rlevinson@aaup.org
(202) 737-5900 (202) 737-5900 Ext. 117
Address:
American Association of University Professors
1012-14th Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005-3465
Phone: Website:
(800) 424 2973 http://www.aaup.org
Organizational Description:
AAUP is a nonprofit, charitable and educational organization with about 45,000 members at colleges and universities throughout the United States. It is the only national organization devoted exclusively to addressing the professional interests of those in higher education. With an international reputation as a defender of academe's highest values, AAUP is:
- An authority on academic freedom, tenure and due process;
- A leader in shared faculty governance;
- A voice for faculty in national public policy circles; and
- A knowledgeable advisor on professional issues such as distance education, intellectual property and faculty rights.
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)
Contact: Address:
Chris Finan 275 Seventh Ave
President Suite 1504
Chris@abffe.com New York, NY 10001
Phone: Website:
(212) 587-4025 http://www.abffe.com
Organizational Description:
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship. Founded by the American Booksellers Association in 1990, ABFFE's mission is to promote and protect the free exchange of ideas, particularly those contained in books, by opposing restrictions on the freedom of speech; issuing statements on significant free expression controversies; participating in legal cases involving First Amendment rights; collaborating with other groups with an interest in free speech; and providing education about the importance of free expression to booksellers, other members of the book industry, politicians, the press and the public.
Services Provided:
- Assistance and educational resources for booksellers facing government subpoenas or complaints and protests on First Amendment-protected materials
- How-to guides for booksellers handling controversial materials or author appearances
- Information on reader privacy and the freedom to read
- Regular updates on pertinent First Amendment issues
- Banned Books Week Resource Guide
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Freedom to Read
- Reader Privacy
- Book Bans and Challenges
- Government Secrecy
- Reporters’ Privilege and Confidential Sources
- Academic Freedom
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Contact: Address:
Marv Johnson 915 15th Street NW
Legislative Counsel Washington, DC 2005
mjohnson@dcaclu.org
Phone: Website:
(202) 675-2334 http://www.aclu.org
Organizational Description:
Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union is one of the oldest organizations in the United States dedicated to preserving the liberties enshrined in the Constitution. With more than 600,000 members and activists, and affiliates in every state, the ACLU works to ensure that the promises embodied in the Constitution are fulfilled.
The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people govern, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.
Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the 13th, 14th and 15th) and the 19th Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees.
Services Provided:
The Washington Legislative Office exclusively works on legislative issues. The National Office litigates and educates on First Amendment issues. The affiliates litigate and lobby on First Amendment issues in courts and legislatures around the country.
The ACLU has been a leader in litigating free speech cases since its inception. Acting as either lead counsel or friend-of-the-court, the ACLU has helped shape the landscape of First Amendment jurisprudence. For a list of the ACLU's "100 Greatest Hits," see: http://www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/aclu_100greatest_hits.pdf
Primary Issues of Focus
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom of religion and the press
- Privacy
- Immigration
- Civil rights
- Death penalty
- Criminal justice
- Disability rights
- Drug policy
- HIV/AIDS
- Human rights
- Lesbian and gay rights
- National security
- Police practices
- Prisoners' rights
- Privacy and technology
- Racial justice
- Religion and belief
- Reproductive freedom
- Rights of the poor
- Voting rights
- Women's rights
American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom (ALA-OIF)
Contact: Address:
Judith Krug 50 East Huron
Director Chicago, IL 60611
jkrug@ala.org
Phone: Website:
(312) 280-4223 http://www.ala.org/oif
(312) 280-4227
Organizational Description:
The Office for Intellectual Freedom is responsible for developing, recommending, and maintaining a total intellectual freedom program for the American Library Association, as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association's basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. The goal of the office is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.
The American Library Association (ALA) provides leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship. It is the leading advocate for the value of libraries and librarians in connecting people to recorded knowledge in all forms and the public's right to a free and open information society.
Services Provided:
OIF educates librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries by providing education, support, and coordination activities to librarians and the general public.
OIF provides advisory services to librarians involved in book challenges and actual or potential intellectual freedom problems; provides information to librarians, state library associations and individuals concerning local, state, and national legislation that impacts First Amendment rights and intellectual freedom; and administers several initiatives promoting intellectual freedom and free access to information, including Banned Books Week, Lawyers for Libraries, Law for Librarians workshops, and an expanding publications program that includes the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Promoting and protecting intellectual freedom and privacy in libraries
- Preventing censorship of materials in libraries
- Defending First Amendment rights
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Contact: Address:
Kevin M. Goldberg Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth,P.L.C
Legal Counsel 1300 North 17th St., 11th Floor
goldberg@fhhlaw.com Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: Website:
(703) 812-0462 http://www.asne.org
Organizational Description:
The American Society of Newspaper Editors is a professional organization of approximately 750 persons who hold positions as directing editors of daily newspapers in the United States and Canada. The purposes of the Society include assisting journalists and providing unfettered and effective press in the service of the American people.
Services Provided:
- Inform journalists and the public regarding issues relating to the First Amendment and access to government information
- Monitor and advocate for legislation promoting free speech and freedom of the press at the state and federal levels
- Promote journalism education at all levels from elementary school through college
- Organize an annual conference and several special conferences devoted to discussion of issues of importance to freedom of the press
- Mobilize grass roots efforts among members of the press on issues relating to newsgathering and publication
- File amicus briefs in cases of importance to the First Amendment and FOIA
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of the press
- Access to government information
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Contact: Address:
Judy Platt 50 F Street, N.W
Director, Communications/Public Affairs Washington, DC 20001
and Freedom to Read
jplatt@publishers.org
Phone: Website:
(202) 220-4551 http://www.publishers.org
Organizational Description:
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s approximately 300 members include most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses, and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, post-secondary and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software and electronic products and services. The Association represents an industry whose very existence depends upon the free exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Attempts to remove, or restrict access to, books in public and school libraries
- Government initiatives to curb violence and “indecency” in the media,
- Efforts to impose third-party liability on publishers, film-makers and others for criminal acts allegedly “inspired” by their works
- Libel litigation at home and in plaintiff-friendly foreign courts aimed at silencing authors and publishers
- The erosion of fundamental protections for journalists and authors
Association of American University Presses (AAUP)
Contact: Address:
Brenna McLaughlin 71 West 23rd, Ste 901
Communications Manager New York, NY 10010
bmclaughlin@aaupnet.org
Phone: Website:
(212) 989-1010 http://www.aaupnet.org
Organizational Description:
The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) is a membership organization representing 112 not-for-profit scholarly publishers in the United States and an additional 15 international scholarly publishers. These publishers are affiliated with research universities, scholarly societies, foundations, museums, and other research institutions. The mission of AAUP members is to serve an effective and creative system of scholarly communications and advance the knowledge of all peoples through their publications.
Services Provided:
The AAUP assists our members' fulfillment of this mission through services and advocacy. The freedom of intellectual exploration and exchange is central to the scholarly communications system supported by AAUP and our member presses. Amongst resources we provide to the academic community and the general public is the "Books for Understanding" guide to scholarship relevant to current events: http://www.booksforunderstanding.org
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
Contacts:
John Morris Sophia Cope
Staff Counsel Staff Attorney/Ron Plesser Fellow
jmorris@cdt.org scope@cdt.org
Address:
1634 I St. NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: Website:
Tel: (202) 637-9800 http://www.cdt.org
Organizational Description:
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a non-profit, public interest organization that works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.
Services Provided:
CDT provides feedback on specific legislative proposals affecting online free expression, and the Internet more generally. CDT is also able to assist congressional staff in understanding technical aspects of the Internet, and the interaction between law and technology. CDT also regularly convenes multi-stakeholder meetings to discuss a particular problem and how to solve that problem by applying a policy framework that keeps in mind each party's best interests. CDT resources include legal expertise in the First Amendment and other free expression-related issues, as well as technology and policy expertise in the Internet and other communications media. CDT also offers a multitude of written resources including policy papers, academic articles, congressional testimony, op-ed pieces and blog posts, most of which can be found on the CDT website.
Primary Issues of Focus:
CDT advocates for free expression on the Internet and other communications technologies. This involves many sub-issues including censorship and children's online safety, censorship and the FCC, bloggers' rights, political speech and the FEC, open government and access to information, Internet neutrality, and a host of other free expression-and-technology issues. CDT also has expertise in consumer privacy, national security and government surveillance, digital copyright, e-government, Internet governance, and many other Internet and technology issues.
Center for First Amendment Rights (CFAR)
Contact: Address:
Ethel S. Sorokin 90 State House Square
President Emerita 13th Floor
& Acting Executive Director Hartford CT 06103-3708
esorokin@pullcom.com
Phone: Website:
(860) 541-3339 http://www.cfarfreedom.org
(860) 522-1781
Organizational Description:
CFAR is an educational resource for all ages and groups with a special emphasis on the 11-26 year old youths. Currently CFAR sponsors:
- An annual Symposium jointly with the University of CT School of Law
- Periodic workshops for teachers at their conventions; CFAR is currently designing a special institute for community college professors of American History and Government. It will serve CT, RI and MA community college faculty.
- An annual high school contest on the First Amendment
- An annual high school conference on the First Amendment
- First Amendment Clubs in High Schools
- A road Show on Circuit—40 min lectures and discussions at HS with experts
- A Middle School First Amendment Day jointly sponsored with the Greater Hartford Magnet Middle School and its lead teacher, Debra Avery
- A First Amendment program sponsored jointly with and at the Neag School of Education for student social studies teachers
- A speakers bureau
Services Provided:
CFAR provides educational programming, First Amendment information and is a resource on issues. All of CFAR's programming and services are FREE.
Primary Issues of Focus: Most First Amendment issues, including:
- Freedom of Press
- Election finance
- Censorship
- Religious issues
- Prayer in schools
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Contact: Address:
Charles Brownstein 271 Madison Ave
Executive Director Suite 1400
director@cbldf.org New York, NY 10016
Phone: Website:
Tel: (212) 679-7151 http://cbldf.org
Fax: (212) 679-0631
Organizational Description:
The purpose of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is to defend constitutional rights relating to speech and press and to assist with relief from arbitrary discrimination by authorities concerning or relating to the public's access to comic books and other comic publications.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Comic books and publications
Dramatists Guild of America (DGA)
Contact: Address:
Ralph Sevush, Esq. 1501 Broadway, Ste 701
Executive Director New York, NY 10036
resevush@dramaguild.com
Phone: Website:
(212) 398-9366 x23 http://Dramatistsguild.com
Organizational Description:
The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. is the only professional association in America for playwrights, librettists, lyricists and composers writing for the stage, with over 5,500 members around the world. Any writer who has completed a dramatic script or song may become a member of the Guild, regardless of their production history. The Guild is guided by its Council, a governing body elected by and from its membership. Since the Guild's inception in 1919, Council members have given their time, interest and support for the benefit of dramatists everywhere and worked to advance their rights. The Guild’s current president is John Weidman, and past presidents have included Robert Sherwood, Moss Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner, Sidney Kingsley, Frank Gilroy, Robert Anderson, Steven Sondheim, and Peter Stone.
Services Provided:
Benefits of DG membership include: business & career advice and contract review from staff attorneys via the Guild's Business Affairs hotline; a subscription to the Guild's bi-monthly magazine, The Dramatist and The Dramatists Guild Newsletter, the annual Resource Directory reference book; access to the Guild's website and e-mail updates; and invitation to monthly seminars on various topics of the craft of dramatic writing. Members also have access to third party health and dental insurance programs and a group term life insurance plan; a Dramatists Guild credit card; free or discounted theatre tickets to certain New York productions; national hotel and travel discounts; and access (at a discounted rate) to the Guild's Frederick Loewe Room in the heart of the theatre district for use in readings and auditions.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- The dramatist's right of free expression.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Contact: Address:
David Sobel 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW
Senior Counsel Suite 650
sobel@eff.org Washington, DC 20009
Phone: Website:
(202) 797-9009 x10 http://www.eff.org
Organizational Description:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit public-interest organization that exists to protect and enhance our core civil liberties in the digital age. Based in San Francisco, EFF is a membership-supported organization that works on issues of free expression, freedom of the press, fair use, anonymity, security, and privacy among many others, as they relate to computing and the Internet.
Services Provided:
Among our various activities, EFF opposes misguided legislation, defends individuals' rights in court, launches global public campaigns, introduces leading edge proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events, supports the development of new communication technologies, engages the press daily, and publishes a comprehensive archive of online civil liberties information on our website. We pride ourselves on being the first to see potentially threatening issues on the horizon and to take pre-emptive action to protect civil liberties on the Internet.
Primary Issues of Focus:
EFF works on issues of free expression, freedom of press, privacy, anonymity, security, and fair use, among many others, as they relate to computing and the Internet. EFF's objectives are to ensure that our fundamental rights are at least as well-secured online as they are offline; to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about online civil liberties; and to act as a defender of those liberties when they are attacked.
Feminists for Free Expression
Contact: Address:
Marilyn Fitterman 2525 Times Square Station
Vice President New York, NY 10108-2525
freedom@well.com
Phone: Website:
(631) 329-0593 http://www.ffeusa.org
Organizational Description:
Feminists for Free Expression (FFE) is a group of diverse feminists working to preserve the individual's right to see, hear and produce materials of her choice without the intervention of the state "for her own good."
FFE believes freedom of expression is especially important for women's rights. While messages reflecting sexism pervade our culture in many forms, sexual and nonsexual, suppression of such material will neither reduce harm to women nor further women's goals.
Feminists for Free Expression, a not-for-profit organization, was founded in January 1992 in response to the many efforts to solve society's problems by book, movie or music banning. FFE believes such efforts divert attention from the substantive causes of social ills and offer a cosmetic, dangerous "quick fix."
Services Provided:
FFE provides a leading voice opposing state and national legislation that threatens free speech; defends the right to free expression in court cases, including those before the Supreme Court; supports the rights of artists whose works have been suppressed or censored and provides expert speakers to universities law schools and the media throughout the country.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Freedom of Speech and Censorship
First Amendment Center – Freedom Forum
Contact: Address:
Ronald K. L. Collins FAC/Arlington
First Amendment Scholar 1101 Wilson Blvd
rcollins@freedomforum.org Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: Website:
Tel: 703/528-0800 www.firstamendmentcenter.org
Fax: 703/284-2879
Organizational Description:
The First Amendment Center, a non-profit and non-partisan organization, works to preserve and protect First Amendment freedoms through information and education. The Center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, and the rights to assemble and to petition the government.
The First Amendment Center, with offices at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C., is an operating program of the Freedom Forum and is associated with the Newseum. Its affiliation with Vanderbilt University is through the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.
Services Provided:
- Education and information about First Amendment Issues
First Amendment Project
Contact: Address:
David Greene 1756 Franklin Street
Executive Director/Staff Counsel 9th Floor
dgreene@thefirstamendment.org Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: Website:
(510) 208-7744 http://www.thefirstamendment.org
Organizational Description:
First Amendment Project (FAP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information, expression, and petition. FAP provides advice, educational materials, and legal representation to its core constituency of activists, journalists, and artists in service of these fundamental liberties.
Services Provided:
- Pro bono legal representation in public interest matters
- Educational resources
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Freedom of expression and petition
- Freedom of information
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
Contact: Address:
Greg Lukianoff 250 West 57th St
President Suite 1830
Greg_lukianoff@thefire.org New York, NY 10107
Phone: Website:
Tel: (212) 582-3191 http://thefire.org
Fax: (212) 582-3195
Organizational Description:
FIRE effectively and decisively defends individual liberties on behalf of thousands of students and faculty on our nation’s campuses. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. In case after case, FIRE successfully defends the rights of students and faculty members against illiberal university administrations, while educating the public about the betrayal of liberty at our nation’s colleges and universities.
Services Provided:
- Students and faculty whose rights have been infringed upon submit cases, and FIRE then writes letters to college administrators on behalf of the individual(s) to explain why a policy or punishment is unjust. FIRE utilizes its Media Network to expose abuses, or its Legal Network if litigation is deemed necessary.
- FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus educate students about their fundamental rights and the various ways in which universities threaten these rights.
- Spotlight: The Campus Freedom Resource is a searchable database on FIRE’s website that contains comprehensive information about restrictions on liberty at over 350 colleges and universities.
- Campus Freedom Network, a network of supporters on targeted campuses who will lobby their administrations. The network’s purpose is to maintain long-term pressure on their respective administrations to change immoral and unconstitutional policies and practices.
- FIRE’s website includes archived cases, news reports, publications, and event listings. FIRE also publishes a quarterly newsletter, The FIRE Quarterly, as well as reports, including the recent Spotlight on Speech Codes 2006: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses, its first comprehensive report on speech code policies at schools across our nation.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- The defense of free speech,
- Academic freedom
- Due process
- Religious liberty
- Other individual rights for students and faculty at college and universities
Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP)
Contact: Address:
Marjorie Heins 170 West 76 St
Director #301
margeheins@verizon.net New York, NY 10023
Phone: Website:
(212) 496-1311 http://www.fepproject.org
Organizational Description:
The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), founded in 2000, provides empirical research, policy development, and advocacy on free speech, copyright, and media democracy issues. FEPP seeks free speech-friendly solutions to the concerns that drive censorship campaigns.
Services Provided:
Informational resources on the FEPP website -- fact sheets, policy reports, commentaries, and news items on censorship, media reform, and intellectual property issues.
Also available for interviews and public speaking.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Restrictions on publicly funded expression - in libraries, museums, schools, universities, and arts and humanities agencies
- Internet filters, rating systems, and other measures that restrict access to information and ideas in the digital age
- Restrictive copyright laws, digital rights management, and other imbalances in the "intellectual property" system
- Mass media consolidation, public access to the airwaves, and other issues of media democracy
- Censorship designed to "shield" adolescents and children from controversial art, information, and ideas
Freedom to Read Foundation
Contact: Address:
Judith Krug 50 E. Huron St.
Executive Director Chicago, IL 60611
ftrf@ala.org or jkrug@ala.org
Phone: Website:
(312) 280-4226 http://www.ftrf.org
Organizational Description:
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees all individuals the right to express their ideas without governmental interference, and to read and listen to the ideas of others. The Freedom to Read Foundation was established to promote and defend this right; to foster libraries as institutions wherein every individual's First Amendment freedoms are fulfilled; and to support the right of libraries to include in their collections and make available any work which they may legally acquire.
The organization of the Freedom to Read Foundation in 1969 was the American Library Association's response to the interest of its members in having adequate means to support and defend librarians whose positions are jeopardized because of their resistance to abridgments of the First Amendment; and to set legal precedent for the freedom to read on behalf of all the people. Since that time, FTRF has been involved in several crucial court cases that have helped expand the First Amendment protections for library users and all Americans.
Services Provided:
- The allocation and disbursement of grants to individuals and groups primarily for the purpose of aiding them in litigation.
- Direct participation in litigation dealing with freedom of speech and of the press.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Free speech and freedom of the press generally
- Free access to information in libraries and elsewhere
- Privacy for library users and others
Friend Committee on National Legislation
Contact: Address:
Jeanne E. Herrick-Stare 245 Second St., NE
Senior Fellow for Civil Liberties Washington, DC 20002
and Human Rights
Jeanne@fcnl.org
Phone: Website:
(202) 547-6000 x 2513 www.fcnl.org
Organizational Description:
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is the largest peace lobby in Washington, DC. Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), FCNL staff and volunteers work with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from many different races, religions, and cultures to advocate social and economic justice, peace, and good government.
The FCNL General Committee, or board of governors, determines the legislative policies and priorities of the organization. They also established a brief mission statement for the organization that provides a vision of the world we seek:
We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.
FCNL is also the oldest registered lobby in Washington, DC. The organization's legislative priorities and policies are set by a General Committee made up of some 220 Quakers from around the country. FCNL's multi-issue advocacy connects historic Quaker testimonies on peace, equality, simplicity, and truth with peace and social justice issues which the United States government is or should be addressing.
Media Coalition
Contact: Address:
David Horowitz 275 Seventh Ave, Ste 1504
Executive Director New York, NY 10001
horowitz@mediacoalition.org
Phone: Website:
(212) 587-4025 x11 http://www.mediacoalition.org
Organizational Description:
Media Coalition is a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of publishers, booksellers, and librarians, recording, motion picture and video games producers, recording, video, and video game retailers, and motion picture exhibitors in the United States.
Services Provided:
Media Coalition provides its members and supporters legislative and legal advocacy on federal, state, and local levels, as well as research and information-sharing.
Primary Issues of Focus:
Media Coalition fights government efforts to limit retailers’ and content providers’ rights to make the broadest range of constitutionally protected material available in both traditional retail settings and on the Internet.
Media Law Resource Center, Inc.
Contact: Address:
Sandy Baron 520 Eighth Ave
Executive Director North Tower, 20th Floor
sbaron@medialaw.org New York, NY 10018
Phone: Website:
(212) 337-0200 x206 http://www.medialaw.org
Organizational Description:
The Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) is a non-profit, membership, information clearinghouse organized to monitor developments and promote First Amendment rights in the libel, privacy, reporter’s privilege, and related legal fields that have an impact upon the acquisition and publication of news and information.
MLRC’s members include publishers and broadcasters, media and professional trade associations representing newspaper, magazine, newsletter and book publishers, broadcasters, journalists, authors, news directors and newspaper editors, and also media insurance carriers.
MLRC’s law firm wing, the MLRC Defense Counsel Section, consists of over
225 member firms around the country and abroad with specialties in media and libel defense representation.
Services Provided:
MLRC’s major projects and programs are designed to inform and assist its membership, as well as members of the public and press, and include:
- MLRC 50-STATE SURVEYS: Media Libel Law • Media Privacy and Related Law • Employment Libel and Privacy Law: comprehensive information on the law in all 50 states, the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Media Privacy and Media Libel Law editions also include surveys on the law in the federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and Canada, and Media Libel Law has a survey of the law of England.
- MLRC BULLETIN - Published quarterly, the MLRC Bulletin publishes the results of MLRC-initiated statistical studies on media libel, privacy and related litigation; symposia; and legal research.
- Periodic Articles, Reports and Background Papers
- MLRC produces numerous reports and papers and resource tools for members and the public on key issues of media law. Most publications are available on the MLRC website.
- Educates and motivates on legislative, judicial and related initiatives.
- MLRC provides background research and analysis n connection with statutory or related initiatives.
Primary Issues of Focus:
Media law issues, including:
- Reporter’s privilege
- Libel
- Privacy access to information
- Intellectual property
- Agricultural disparagement
- Anti-SLAPP laws
- Right of publicity laws
- Proposals for damage limitations in First Amendment litigation
National Coalition Against Censorship
Contact: Address:
Joan Bertin 275 Seventh Ave, Ste 1504
Executive Director New York, NY 10001
ncac@ncac.org
Phone: Website:
(212) 807-6222 http://ncac.org
Organizational Description:
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. United by a conviction that freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression must be defended, we work to educate our own members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose them.
Services Provided:
- Inform, assist and stimulate Participating Organizations.
- Publish Censorship News four times a year, a newsletter of information and analysis of freedom of expression issues, and prepares articles, periodic reports and background papers.
- Promote grassroots organizing, providing local activists with facts, information and strategies.
- Alert communities, individuals, and the media to censorship events around the country through letters, press releases, letters to the editor, and original articles.
- Organize conferences and public meetings for discussion of current and important First Amendment issues.
- Monitor and interpret litigation and legislation with First Amendment implications on the national and state levels.
- Serve as a national resource center and information exchange.
Primary Issues of Focus:
All types of censorship issues in all media.
Primary issues include:
- Books
- Classrooms
- Hate Speech
- Internet
- Science
- Sex Education
- Political Dissent
- Theatre & Performance
- Film
- Music
- Visual Art
- Video Games
- Youth
National Council of Teachers of English
Contact: Address:
Millie Davis 1111 W. Kenyon Rd
Division Director Communications Urbana, IL 61801
and Affiliate Services
mdavis@ncte.org
Phone: Website:
(800) 369-6283 x 3634 http://www.ncte.org
Organizational Description:
Since 1911, NCTE has worked to advance teaching, research, and student achievement in English language arts at all scholastic levels.
Services Provided:
Through it’s Anti-Censorship Center (http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/censorship), NCTE offers advice, helpful documents, and other support at no cost to teachers faced with challenges to literary works, films and videos, drama productions, or teaching methods.
Primary Issues of Focus:
The National Council of Teachers of English is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English.
OpenTheGovernment.org
Contact: Address:
Patrice McDermott 1742 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Executive Director 3rd Floor
pmcdermott@openthegovernment.org Washington, DC 20009
Phone: Website:
(202)332-OPEN (6736) http://www.openthegovernment.org
Organizational Description:
OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of consumer and good government groups, environmentalists, library groups, journalists, labor and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles.
We are a coalition of approximately sixty groups. Our partners include both state level organizations and groups working at the federal level.
Services Provided:
- Research and analysis, advice on issues and policies
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Government openness and secrecy
Peacefire
Contact: Address:
Bennett Haselton 14615 NE 30th PL
Webmaster #10D
bennett@peacefire.org Bellevue, WA 98007
Phone: Website:
(425) 497 9002 http://www.peacefire.org
Organizational Description:
Peacefire was founded in 1996 to help represent the interests of people under 18 in the debate over free speech on the Internet.
Services Provided:
- Documentation of what blocking software really blocks, including little-known cases of sites blocked for political reasons, and the high error rates of blocking programs in general
- Software for getting around blocking software
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Advocating civil rights for Internet users under 18
PEN American Center
Contact: Address:
Larry Siems 588 Broadway, #303
Director, Freedom to Write New York, NY 10012
And International Programs
lsiems@pen.org
Phone: Website:
Tel: (212) 334-1660 x 105 www.pen.org
Fax: (212) 334-2181
Organizational Description:
PEN American Center is the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 2,900 distinguished writers, editors, and translators.
Services Provided:
In addition to defending writers in prison or in danger of imprisonment for their work, PEN American Center sponsors public literary programs and forums on current issues, sends prominent authors to inner-city schools to encourage reading and writing, administers literary prizes, promotes international literature that might otherwise go unread in the United States, and offers grants and loans to writers facing financial or medical emergencies. In carrying out this work, PEN American Center builds upon the achievements of such dedicated past members as W.H. Auden, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Thomas Mann, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck.
Primary Issues of Focus:
The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. In the U. S., it protests book-bannings in schools and counters legal challenges to the First Amendment.
The PEN Campaign for Core Freedoms is an intensive education and advocacy campaign to address freedom of expression and human rights concerns connected with the USA Patriot Act and the full range of antiterrorism laws and orders enacted since 9/11.
PEN USA
Contact: Address:
Katusha Galitzine PEN USA c/o Antioch University
Freedom to Write Prog. Director 400 Corporate Pointe
Katusha@penusa.org Culver City, CA 90230
Phone: Website:
(310) 862 1555 X362 http://www.penusa.org
Organizational Description:
PEN Center USA (PEN USA) mobilizes approximately 1,000 professional writers to promote freedom of speech and the literary arts in a variety of ways. Our programs include: public literary forums, writer residencies in underserved public high schools, a mentorship fellowship for diverse aspiring writers, instructional seminars on the writing profession, human rights campaigns on behalf of censored and imprisoned writers, and an annual literary awards competition.
Services Provided:
- Collect and issue domestic and international action alerts regarding threats to freedom of expression
- Organize letter writing campaigns on behalf of writers in prison or in danger around the world
- Organize local events to raise awareness of censorship and intimidation of writers around the world
- Assist writers in danger and in exile to continue their work unimpeded.
- Use advocacy and individual correspondence to assist writers unjustly imprisoned
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Censorship and intimidation of writers internationally and domestically
- Book banning in classrooms and libraries
- The rights of journalists, international and domestic
- Writers in prison internationally
- Defamation and insult laws internationally
- Killing with impunity of writers and journalists internationally
Radio Free Asia
Contact:
John Estrella
Director of External Relations
estrellaj@rfa.org
Address:
2025 M Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20036
Phone: Website:
Tel: (202) 266-4004 http://rfa.org
Organizational Description:
Radio Free Asia’s mission is to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit full and free domestic media. Guided by the core principles of freedom of expression and opinion, RFA serves its listeners by providing information critical for informed decision-making.
RFA is mandated to broadcast to China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. RFA’s programming primarily comprises domestic news and information of unique and specific interest to its listeners. All broadcasts are solely in local language(s) and dialects. Each RFA language service is distinctive, reflecting the particular culture, language, and preferences of its listeners.
RFA adheres to rigorous journalistic standards of objectivity, accuracy, and fairness. RFA aims, in turn, to retain the greatest confidence among its listeners and to serve as a model for others to shape their own emerging journalistic traditions.
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Civil Liberties
- Civil Rights
- Freedom of the Press
People for the American Way (PFAW)
Contacts:
Deborah Liu
Deputy General Counsel
dliu@pfaw.org
Address:
2000 M Street, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: Website:
Tel: (202) 467-4999 http://pfaw.org
Fax: (202) 293-2672
Organizational Description:
People For the American Way is a nonprofit citizens’ organization established to promote and protect civil and constitutional rights. Founded in 1980 by a group of civic, religious, and educational leaders devoted to our nation’s heritage of tolerance, pluralism, and liberty, People For now has more than 1,000,000 members and other supporters nationwide. One of People For’s primary missions is to educate the public on the vital importance of our tradition of liberty and freedom, and to defend that tradition, through litigation and other means, against efforts to limit fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression.
Services Provided:
- Inform, assist and stimulate Participating Organizations
- Provide extensive grassroots organizing on the state and local level
- Alert membership and other supporters about current censorship efforts around the country through letters, press releases, letters to the editor, and original articles
- Monitor and expose efforts by right-wing groups to restrict First Amendment rights via online blog called Right Wing Watch
- Monitor legislation and join litigation with First Amendment implications on the national and state levels
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Civil Liberties
- Civil Rights
- Separation of Church and State
- LGBT Equality
- Voting Rights
- Independent Judiciary
Student Press Law Center (SPLC)
Contact: Address:
Mark Goodman 1101 Wilson Blvd.
Executive Director Suite 1100
splc@splc.org Arlington, VA 22209-2275
Phone: Website:
(703) 807-1904 http://splc.org
Organizational Description:
The Student Press Law Center is an advocate for student free-press rights and provides information, advice and legal assistance on media law issues at no charge to student news organizations and the advisers who work with them.
Services Provided:
- Provides information, advice and legal assistance on media law issues
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Student free-press rights
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
Contact: Address:
Robert O’Neil 400 Worrell Drive
Director Charlottesville, VA 22911
freespeech@tjcenter.org
Phone: Website:
Tel: (434) 295-4784 http://www.tjcenter.org
Fax: (434) 296-3621
Organizational Description:
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is devoted solely to the defense of free expression. While its charge is sharply focused, the Center's mission is broad. It is as concerned with the musician as with the mass media, with the painter as with the publisher, and as much with the sculptor as the editor. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Center enjoys close ties to the University of Virginia, but is an autonomous, not-for-profit entity.
Services Provided:
Since its founding in 1990, the Center has fulfilled its mission through a wide range of programs in education and the arts, and active participation in judicial matters involving free expression (most often in the form of “friend of the court” legal briefs). The Center's director, Robert M. O’Neil, is a nationally recognized expert on matters involving the First Amendment and academic freedom and serves as a resource for members of the media and general public on questions involving either of these areas.
In 2006, the Center completed construction on The Community Chalkboard and Podium: A Monument to the First Amendment. Located in the public plaza outside Charlottesville’s City Hall, this unique monument includes a 104’ slate chalkboard on which visitors may express themselves on any topic. The design also includes a podium from which a speaker may address planned or impromptu public gatherings. The Center is currently exploring the possibility of constructing the monument in other localities.
The Jefferson Muzzles
Each year on or near April 13 (the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson) the Center focuses national attention on especially egregious or ridiculous affronts to free expression by awarding Jefferson Muzzles to responsible individuals or organizations. The Center also recognizes those who have shown extraordinary devotion to the principles of free expression through its William J. Brennan, Jr., Award. The Center welcomes nominees for both of these programs from the general public.
Primary Issues of Focus:
The Center is devoted solely to the protection of the First Amendment rights of free speech and free press; matters involving the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment are beyond the Center’s mission.
Tully Center for Free Speech
Contact: Address:
Barbara Croll Fought Newhouse III
Director
215 University Place,
bcfought@syr.edu Syracuse University, NY
Phone: Website:
Tel: (315) 443-4054 http://tully.syr.edu
Fax: (315) 443-3946
Organizational Description:
Services Provided:
- Legal services to individuals and arts and cultural institutions
Primary Issues of Focus:
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts
Contact: Address:
John Davis Malloy 1300 I Street NW
Director of Legal Services Washington, DC 20005
john.malloy@thewala.org
Phone: Website:
Tel: (202) 289-4440 http://thewala.org
Fax: (202) 289-4985
Organizational Description:
Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, established in 1983, provides legal advice and representation to individuals and to arts and cultural institutions on arts-related matters. WALA also provides legal education and training to attorneys and to members of the creative community. As a major provider of legal services to low-income persons, WALA has a special interest in guarding against over-broad enforcement of proprietary claims against emerging and innovative expression.
Services Provided:
- Legal services to individuals and arts and cultural institutions
Primary Issues of Focus:
- Censorship of the arts
- Proprietary claims
Washington Independent Writers – Freedom to Write Fund</
