U.S.

'Muzzle Awards' Lampoon Censors

April 13, 1998 / 4:30 PM EDT / AP

Virginia's Loudoun County Library Board received one of 11 tongue-in-cheek Jefferson Muzzle Awards on Monday for drastically restricting the type of information available on its computers.

The awards are given annually by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression to those who, in the opinion of the center's board, deserve censure for censorship.

The nationwide awards were announced on the 255th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth. Robert M. O'Neil, the Charlottesville-based center's director, said the awards "give a sense of what the major threats to free speech and press are going on across the country in the preceding year."

The Loudoun board in October installed on its computers the most restrictive system of Internet content filters in the nation, O'Neill said. The filter is so restrictive that a breast cancer survivor couldn't get online information about the disease.

"The filter blocked anything with the word `breast' in it," O'Neill said.

He said the board extended the censorship to adults as well as to children and "thus deprived all their citizens through tax-supported public libraries of access to substantial amounts of legally protected information."

Other award recipients announced Monday:

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for directing the city's Transit Authority to remove ads for a magazine that said, "Possibly the only good thing in New York Rudy hasn't taken credit for."

U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., for threatening to push for legislation that would force NBC and Black Entertainment Television to adopt a ratings system for television programs.

The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration for ordering the recall of 78 license plates issued to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The plates display a Confederate battle flag.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello for pulling government advertising from a newspaper that ran an article critical of the first 100 days of Rossello's second term.

Oklahoma County District Attorney Robert Macy and the Oklahoma City Police Department for seizing from homes and video stores copies of The Tin Drum, an Oscar-winning movie based on a novel by Gunter Grass. The film, authorities claimed, contained child pornography.

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and District Supervisor David Gill for threatening to revoke the liquor license of the Palm Springs Convention Center if it hosted an erotic art exhibit, even though no alcohol would be served at the event.

The Texas Legislature for barring the investment of state money in record companies that produce or distribute music that advocates or even describes violence or illegal drug use.

A Williamson County, Tenn., grand jury that indicted a local Barnes & Noble bookstore for selling and displaying books of photographs by Jack Sturges anDavid Hamilton. The books contained pictures of unclad youths but were never judged to be legally obscene.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance of Louisiana for barring jurors in a criminal trial from speaking to reporters after the trial had ended.

Miami-Dade County, Fla., Commissioner Bruce Kaplin for removing a member of the Metro-Dade Film, Television and Print Advisory Board because that member suggested Cuban artists be allowed to participate in a music festival.