National Coalition Against Censorship

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 American non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. The coalition works to defend freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression from censorship and threats of censorship through education and outreach, and direct advocacy. NCAC assists individuals, community groups, and institutions with strategies and resources for resisting censorship and creating a climate hospitable to free expression. Their main goal is to defend the first amendment, freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression.[1] NCAC's website contains reports of censorship incidents, analysis and discussion of free expression issues, a database of legal cases in the arts, an archive of NCAC's quarterly newsletter, a blog, and Censorpedia, a crowdsourced wiki.

Focus

NCAC is concerned with censorship across all media including art, literature, and film; it works on several fronts through its programs, working with artists and curators through the Arts Advocacy Program (AAP), addressing young people and youth culture through the Youth Free Expression Program (YFEP) and Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP). Past initiatives include defending researchers with The Knowledge Project: Censorship and Sciences, and addressing the rights of people of all sexual orientations through the Sex and Censorship project.[2]

NCAC's online resources include CENSORPEDIA, a crowdsourced Wiki for Censorship Incidents, and Artists Rights, a guide intended for artists and arts professionals containing explanations of art that is (and is not) protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

According to their website[3], their mission is to:

  • Assist students, teachers, librarians, parents and others opposing censorship in schools and libraries
  • Work with artists, curators and museum directors resisting art censorship
  • Inform public officials, the media, and the general public about First Amendment rights and obligations
  • Advocate for public policies and laws that respect First Amendment rights and principles
  • Educate young people about the First Amendment and the importance of free expression
  • Engage with a nationwide network of activists and support local activism
  • Identify and analyze censorship trends and develop new strategies to promote free speech rights

History

NCAC formed "The Coalition" in 1973 in response to the Supreme Court decision in Miller v. California.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Udow, R. (1988). You Can Combat censorship. Educational Leadership,(8), 14.
  2. ↑ National Coalition Against Censorship.(2014).Projects. Retrieved from: NCAC.org.
  3. ↑ NCAC Mission and History. "What We Do." Accessed 1 October 2017. http://ncac.org/about-us


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.