ABFFE Challenges Miami School Board and FCC

November 30, 2006

In two separate legal briefs filed in the past week, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) charged that the Miami-Dade County School Board and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are guilty of censorship.

On Tuesday, November 21, ABFFE filed a brief condemning the Miami school board's ban on Vamos a Cuba, a book for four- to six-year-olds, because it did not include such facts as "[t]he people of Cuba survive without civil liberties and due process under the law and receive 10 to 20 year prison sentences for simply writing a document or voicing an opinion contrary to the party line." ABFFE joined a second "amicus" brief that was filed yesterday in a case challenging a new FCC rule banning the broadcast of the words "shit" and "fuck," even in documentaries.

The Miami case began in June when a former Cuban political prisoner complained that Vamos a Cuba was "untruthful" because it "portray[ed] a life in Cuba that does not exist." Two panels reviewed the book and upheld its use in school libraries by a combined vote of 22 - 2. But the book was banned as "inaccurate" by the Miami school board. Several board members acknowledged that they had voted to remove the book because they believed it was "offensive" to the Cuban-American community since it did not include detailed facts about Cuba's dictatorship. The board also ordered the removal of the series of travel books published by Heinemann that includes Vamos a Cuba even though there had been no complaints about any of the other books in the series.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the ban, and a federal district court judge in Miami declared it unconstitutional. However, the school board has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

"Removal decisions such as the one at issue in this case -- which blatantly ignore the recommendations of professional librarians and educators -- are not based on objective criteria but rather on subjective, politically motivated agendas," the ABFFE brief states. "The district court correctly concluded that the School Board cannot justify its censorship decision on these grounds."

The ABFFE brief, which was written by Theresa Chmara of Jenner & Block, was joined by the Association of Booksellers for Children, the Freedom to Read Foundation, Reforma, Peacefire.org, and the National Coalition Against Censorship. The brief is available via the ABFFE website, www.abffe.com.

In the FCC case, ABFFE joined a coalition of 20 free expression groups, community broadcasters, filmmakers, performers, and authors to file a brief arguing that new standards adopted by the commission to censor "indecency" on the airwaves are overly vague and unconstitutional.

In March 2006, the FCC declared that only "in rare contexts" will "language that is presumptively profane" be permitted in radio and TV broadcasts and condemned dozens of programs containing coarse language or sexual situations. One of the condemned programs was a PBS documentary by Martin Scorsese that explored the history of American blues and included interviews with people who used the words "shit" and "fuck." The FCC stated, "We disagree that the use of such language was necessary to express any particular viewpoint." The television networks have challenged the new standards in court.

The amicus brief joined by ABFFE today charges that the new FCC standards, coupled with the threat of fines of up to $325,000 that were authorized by Congress this year, will have a deeply chilling impact on free speech on TV and radio, particularly on nonprofit broadcasters who do not have the resources to challenge fines in court. The brief notes that public radio stations have already "bleeped" words from documentaries about the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq War. Rocky Mountain PBS canceled the historical documentary Marie Antoinette because it included sexually suggestive engravings.

The amicus brief was drafted by Marjorie Heins, the director of the Free Expression Policy Project of the Brennan Center for Justice. Other signatories include the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN American Center, the Writers Guild of America West, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. The brief is available on the Free Expression Policy Project website, www.fepproject.org.

Topics: Free Expression,