Muzzle awards heaped on fakes and censors

RICHMOND, Virginia – A US federal agency that staged a fake news conference to make itself look better and a police department that charged a woman for swearing were among the winners last week of the 2008 Jefferson Muzzle Awards – a dubious honour that goes to those deemed to have violated free speech.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency made the list for staging the news conference during the California wildfires. Agency employees posed as journalists and asked officials soft questions while real reporters got short notice of the event and could only listen in without asking questions.Director Bob O’Neil of the Thomas Jefferson Centre for the Protection of Free Expression said the bogus event was an example of fake speech substituting for free speech.”We haven’t (previously) had anything that fell into the falsification or disinformation category; this is a first,” O’Neil said in a telephone interview.The centre in Charlottesville, Virginia awards the Muzzles annually to mark the April 13 birthday of its namesake, the third US president, an advocate of free speech and principal author of America’s Declaration of Independence.The police in Scranton, Pennsylvania, won a Muzzle for filing criminal charges against Dawn Herb, who screamed profanities when a toilet in her home overflowed.Herb’s neighbour, an off-duty officer, told her to tone it down.She continued, and was charged with disorderly conduct.A judge acquitted Herb in December, saying that while her comments might be considered vulgar she had the First Amendment right to express herself.The Federal Communications Commission won a Lifetime Muzzle for having won the award four times and for being in the running nearly each year of the awards’ 17-year history.The commission has been nominated mostly over how it has defined broadcast indecency following situations that included U2 frontman Bono’s use of the ‘F-word’ at a 2003 awards show and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’ in 2004.A Muzzle also went to Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, for introducing a bill that would require FCC to maintain a policy that would make broadcasting a single word or image indecent, and therefore punishable.CBS Radio and MSNBC television were cited for taking controversial radio host Don Imus off the air after he made racist and sexist comments about Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team.The networks allowed public criticism to control their actions, O’Neil said, despite the fact that they could’ve used broadcast-delay technology to prevent the comments from being heard.Other winners: Nebraska Judge Jeffre Cheuvront for barring witnesses from using the terms “rape”, “victim”, “assailant”, and “sexual assault kit” in a sexual assault trial; the New York Department of Motor Vehicles for recalling a vanity licence plate after deeming its ‘GETOSAMA’ message offensive; the managing board of The Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia’s student newspaper, for firing a cartoonist because of public criticism of a strip called ‘Ethiopian Food Fight’ – despite the fact that the editors approved the cartoon before it was published.Nampa-AP On the Net: Thomas Jefferson Centre for the Protection of Free Expression: http://www.tjcenter.orgAgency employees posed as journalists and asked officials soft questions while real reporters got short notice of the event and could only listen in without asking questions.Director Bob O’Neil of the Thomas Jefferson Centre for the Protection of Free Expression said the bogus event was an example of fake speech substituting for free speech.”We haven’t (previously) had anything that fell into the falsification or disinformation category; this is a first,” O’Neil said in a telephone interview.The centre in Charlottesville, Virginia awards the Muzzles annually to mark the April 13 birthday of its namesake, the third US president, an advocate of free speech and principal author of America’s Declaration of Independence.The police in Scranton, Pennsylvania, won a Muzzle for filing criminal charges against Dawn Herb, who screamed profanities when a toilet in her home overflowed.Herb’s neighbour, an off-duty officer, told her to tone it down.She continued, and was charged with disorderly conduct.A judge acquitted Herb in December, saying that while her comments might be considered vulgar she had the First Amendment right to express herself.The Federal Communications Commission won a Lifetime Muzzle for having won the award four times and for being in the running nearly each year of the awards’ 17-year history.The commission has been nominated mostly over how it has defined broadcast indecency following situations that included U2 frontman Bono’s use of the ‘F-word’ at a 2003 awards show and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’ in 2004.A Muzzle also went to Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, for introducing a bill that would require FCC to maintain a policy that would make broadcasting a single word or image indecent, and therefore punishable.CBS Radio and MSNBC television were cited for taking controversial radio host Don Imus off the air after he made racist and sexist comments about Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team.The networks allowed public criticism to control their actions, O’Neil said, despite the fact that they could’ve used broadcast-delay technology to prevent the comments from being heard.Other winners: Nebraska Judge Jeffre Cheuvront for barring witnesses from using the terms “rape”, “victim”, “assailant”, and “sexual assault kit” in a sexual assault trial; the New York Department of Motor Vehicles for recalling a vanity licence plate after deeming its ‘GETOSAMA’ message offensive; the managing board of The Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia’s student newspaper, for firing a cartoonist because of public criticism of a strip called ‘Ethiopian Food Fight’ – despite the fact that the editors approved the cartoon before it was published.Nampa-AP On the Net: Thomas Jefferson Centre for the Protection of Free Expression: http://www.tjcenter.org

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.