The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, in handing out its annual Jefferson Muzzles awards, has one word for President Clinton, Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush, and New York City mayor and Senate candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani - heel!
The center releases what you might call these awards for extinguished achievement annually, on the birthday of our third President, who also helped to author the Declaration of Independence. "The Muzzles are awarded to those responsible for the most ridiculous or egregious affronts to free expression occurring during the previous year," says PFE attorney and director of programs Josh Wheeler.
The Clinton Administration earned a Muzzle over its gays in the military policy. The "continuing infringement on free speech caused by the implementation of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy regarding gays serving in the military" brought the Administration the honor, according to the PFE.
Bush, the Texas governor who's challenging Vice President Al Gore for the White House, earned a Muzzle for its bid to compel the Federal Election Commission to regulate the content of a website parodying Bush and his White House aspirations.
Giuliani, a third-time Muzzle winner, earned his hat trick over the Brooklyn Museum flap, in which the mayor - who faces First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in U.S. Senate race - tried to withdraw funding over an exhibit with religious criticism and sued to move the museum from city-owned facilities.
Not that White House incumbents and hopefuls were the only federal "honorees." The FBI also earned a Muzzle for trying to quash a fictional film on the Internet because of its content, the PFE said. The film was independent writer/director Michael Zieper's "novel way" of tackling the Y2K hysteria of 1999. "Official reaction was more serious than thoughtful," said the PFE. "While Zieper was visiting relatives, a New York City police officer paged him. When Zieper returned the call the officer informed him that he was at that moment standing in front of Zieper's home with two FBI agents."
One agent asked about the video's origin, then queried the filmmaker whether the bureau could act to discourage its viewing "by people to whom its content might be unsettling," the PFE said of the satirical derivation of War of the Worlds-style themes related to Y2K. Zeiper declined, in part because of a pending television news report about the film. The G-man asked him to call the station and ask them to kill the story, but Zeiper refused.
But the agents and an assistant U.S. attorney contacted the Website's host, Mark Weiger, asked about removing the video, and Wieger took the Website down - and joined Zeiper in contacting the American Civil Liberties Union, who sued for the two claiming First Amendment violations. The FBI denies ordering the Website takedown, but the PFE said "the facts and the lawsuit make clear that the removal occurred only after the persistent and intimidating inquiries by federal and state law enforcement officials."
Wheeler told AVN On the Net the idea behind the Jefferson Muzzles is raising more awareness of the fact that threats to free expression happen every day in the United States. "I think there's this false assumption that because we have the First Amendment, that these threats are not that serious," he said. "In fact, part of the purpose of the Muzzles is to hopefully make people realize that free speech rights are something that have to be fought for vigilantly."
Was the overall situation worse than two decades ago? Wheeler said he couldn't say for certain - but some of the issues surrounding free expression, especially the anonymity of the Internet, are new. "I think that people are so afraid of the anonymity of the Internet that a lot of people do accept a certain degree of censorship, or are willing to accept a certain degree of censorship," he said. "What we're out to achieve with the Muzzles is awareness that you can't censor one person without creating the potential that you, yourself, will be censored."
Some of the Muzzle's targets ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, particularly in public schools, which earned the bulk of the Muzzles. Consider:
The PFE awarded a muzzle to the man who tried prosecuting an Ohio mother over photographs of her eight-year-old daughter in the bath rinsing off with a shower head. \nCBS earned a Muzzle over a New Year's Eve incident - coverage included an electronic trick to make an NBC billboard appear to have been a CBS billboard, and an unapologetic statement from CBS Network president Leslie Moonves saying they'd do it again unless it involved a hard-news story. \nMuzzle honoree Guy W. Sims, superintendent of education for Muscogee County, Georgia, earned his honor for ordering alteration of a classic painting of George Washington's Delaware crossing in 2,300 copies of a history textbook. And why did he order it? According to PFE, he feared Washington's watch fob could be mistaken for an exposed part of the Father of His Country's anatomy. \nThe Rockingham County, Virginia school board, Superintendent John H. Kidd, and Principal C. James Slye, earned Muzzles for censoring… a pamphlet on censorship. They ordered a high school English teacher to remove from his classroom door pamphlets that listed books banned in the United States, the PFE said. \nMidland High School principal Neil Richmond in Midland, Texas, earned a Muzzle along with the local school board because he barred a high school student from participating in graduation - the student had taken part in an off-campus photograph that embarrassed the principal. \nSomething to ponder in Ponder, Texas - Independent School District Superintendent Byron Welch, Ponder High School Principal Chance Allen, and Assistant Principal Ted Heers earned Muzzles for their actions leading to the arrest and jailing of seventh-grader Christopher Beamon for the content of his class-assigned horror story. The administrators deemed the story a threat because Beamon used the names of fellow students, PFE said. \nMeanwhile, back at the political ranch, the PFE also wants to Muzzle the Virginia State Assembly for barring the use of the battle flag of the Confederacy as a logo on a group's motor vehicle specialty license plate. The Board of Trustees of Georgetown Charter Township, Michigan, earned a Muzzle for "exploiting an ambiguity in a state law intended to affect minors alone, in order to control what adults see and read on computer terminals in the public library."
