MEDIA LAW

Obscenity – Pornography

and Censorship

Local censorship

H.L. Mencken, The American Mercury Article about prostitute considered

“salacious” Judge dismissed case. Mencken profitted

Obscenity - Pornography

U. S. Supreme Court, 1957, Roth vs. U.S.

• Obscenity not protected by First Amendment

• Sex and obscenity not synonymous. Obscene material appeals to “prurient” interest, is obsessively sexual

Obscenity - Pornography

U. S. Supreme Court, 1973, Miller vs. Calif.

• Whether “average person, applying contemporary standards” finds work, as a whole, appeals to prurient interest

• Whether work deals in offensive way with sexual conduct specifically defined in state law

• Whether the work, as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Censorship and School Boards

One-third of all censorship cases involves attempts to censor library books and school curricula.

Almost all are usually reversed on appeal.

Obscenity — Pornography

Commission on Obscenity and Pornography 1970

No convincing evidence of harm.

Obscenity — Pornography

Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography

(Meese Commission, 1986)

Pornography does cause harm.