more reasons to lament the death of the First Amendment

From: Peter Smagorinsky (smago@coe.uga.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2005 - 03:21:56 PST


U.S. Students Say Press Freedoms Go Too Far (USA Today, January 30)
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more
restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper
stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30-students-press_x.htm

Read the report "Future of the First Amendment" at
http://firstamendment.jideas.org/findings/findings.php

High School Journalist Faces Firing (Los Angeles Times, January 26) (free
registration required)
When high school journalist Ann Long sent a recent edition of her school's
newspaper to the printer, she hoped her profile of three gay students would
generate some discussion in the hallways.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/
la-me-resign26jan26,1,6187044.story?coll=la-editions-orange

Norwood School Books Banned, Destroyed (Telluride Daily Planet, February 2)
It wasn't a band of angry students who destroyed about two dozen copies of
Bless Me, Ultima, a novel selected for a Norwood High School English class
-- it was a group of parents. Millie Davis, NCTE Division Director,
Communications and Affiliate Services, is quoted.
http://www.telluridegateway.com/articles/2005/02/01/news/top_stories/news01.txt

Bill Addresses Book Selection (Arizona Republic, January 24)
A bill proposed in Arizona would take book selection processes out of the
hands of individual districts and into the hands of the state's Board of
Education, which would approve a standard set of books for all of Arizona's
public and charter schools.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0124textbill24.html

PBS's "Buster" Gets an Education (The Washington Post, January 27) (free
registration required)
Margaret Spellings, who has been charged with the difficult task of fixing
the nation's troubled public education system, took time out on her second
day on the job to fire off a letter to PBS CEO Pat Mitchell expressing
"strong and very serious concerns" about the "Postcards From Buster"
episode. Specifically that, in the episode, called "Sugartime!," the
animated asthmatic little bunny visits Vermont and meets actual, real-live,
not make-believe children there who have gay parents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40188-2005Jan26.html



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Mar 01 2005 - 01:00:03 PST