Documents and journal articles featured in this nine-item annotated bibliography concern information as a critical resource in a democratic society and the role of the library and information services in ensuring access to information, especially that which is government produced. Citations were selected through a computer search of the…

Information on six colleges that were removed from the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP) list of censured administrations and four colleges that were added to the censured list is presented. Censure, following an investigation of a particular case, informs the academic community that the college's administration is not…

On college campuses today, the debate rages over whether self-restraint and tolerance for nonconformity is overriding a need to protect certain individuals and groups from objectionable speech. Some administrators, students, and alumni wish to prevent "bad speech" in the form of expressions of racism, sexism, and the like. Advocates for…

This book-length report is the outgrowth of a fact-finding mission (in July and August 1990) from the Gannett Foundation to Central and Eastern Europe to assess the current state and probable future of press freedom there. The report investigates the condition and needs of the print and electronic media of four countries--Poland, Czechoslovakia,…

The establishment of First Amendment protection for statements of opinion has extended the category of protected expression, but judicially created tests for distinguishing fact from opinion provide limited guidance for judges and place little constraint on judicial interpretation of language. In writing the Supreme Court's majority opinion in…

The authority of the First Amendment may transcend the strictures of its original wording, which limits it to proscriptions of federal government suppression of speech. Attempts by some courts to extend First Amendment authority to the workplace is clearly related to the growing criticism of unrestrained managerial dismissal power. The first major…

A study examined the current United States Supreme Court's treatment of the legal concept of freedom of expression by exploring its decisions and opinions on a quantitative basis. The individual votes and the opinions or legal rationales of the justices were recorded for the 43 First Amendment cases decided by the court between the 1981…

Intended to help clarify issues surrounding the right of publicity (protection against the unauthorized commercial appropriation of a person's name, likeness, achievements or characteristics), this paper provides explanations of how the right developed, what it protects, how it has been applied in various jurisdictions around the country, and the…

Serious constitutional problems arise when the contempt power of judges clashes with other compelling interests such as those of the First Amendment. The "collateral bar" rule--which requires that court orders, even those later determined to be unconstitutional, must be complied with until amended or vacated--in effect, calls for…

The ten papers in this document were presented at a week-long institute in 1982 and are published now because of concerns about recurring threats to intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights. Included are: (1) "Intellectual Freedom: The First Amendment and the Right To Know" (Dennis Day); (2) "How Conflicting Values Result in…

The doctrine of "fighting words" was first articulated by the United States Supreme Court in 1942 in the case of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire when it declared one classificaton of language as outside the bounds of constitutional guarantees. Since then the Court has continually redrawn the line defining which speech is constitutionally…

Recent social and political changes in the USSR have made available some 60 previously unreleased films, which were produced during the last 20 years and withheld from release by the Union of Soviet Filmmakers. In 1986, much of this group's leadership was removed leading to an atmosphere more favorable to wider distribution. Some of these films…

In the "United States v. the 'Progressive'," the United States government took a small left-wing magazine to court to prevent publication of an article on how a hydrogen bomb works. Amidst great controversy over what the article described and what data were secret and what were not, a federal judge granted an injunction against the…

Designed to provide insight into both the philosophical and emotional dimensions of community conflicts over students' exposure to ideas, this report summarizes 4 current court cases and 16 previous decisions in cases involving the banning of books, magazines, and films from public schools. Some details of two recent cases are provided to…

An analysis of the Supreme Court's First Amendment decisions under Chief Justice Warren Burger does not indicate any pattern of repudiation of doctrinal advances made by earlier courts. Like its predecessors, the Burger Court has dealt most frequently with First Amendment cases requiring definition and interpretation of government abridgement. In…