The New Censorship Wave
Journalists shouldn't stand by while others try to control what we can read
Books are the gateway drug to new ideas. They drop you into someone else’s shoes, someone else’s story, someone else’s perspective, often challenging your own worldview in the process. They open your mind. They change your life, making you more empathetic, more open to new ideas.
Which is why some groups want to get rid of them now more than ever.
Public school libraries have seen the biggest purge, of course. According to a new report by PEN America, a free speech advocacy group, book bans rose by 33 percent in the last academic year. From July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, PEN counted 3,364 instances of book bans in a total of 33 different states. Over 1,500 unique titles got the axe.
Of course, most of those bans came in Florida. The report points out that Ron DeSantis’ home state clocked in with just over 1,400 book bans. Texas came in second with 625.
Iowa is new to this game, with the state’s “parents’ rights bill” only going into effect July 1. Since the state itself did not provide a list of banned titles, schools have been forced to navigate the new law themselves, hunting for books that the law would find aren’t “age appropriate” and contain “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” In early August, the Urbandale School District initially identified over 385 books it would pull from its shelves. After public pressure, it reduced that list to 65 books. Mason City, on the other hand, used ChatGPT to identify 19 books that violated the new state law.
But school book bans were only the start. There’s also been a quiet increase in attempts to ban material in public libraries. According to new data released by the American Library Association, between January 1 and August 31, there have been “695 attempts to censor library materials and services, and documented challenges to 1,915 unique titles.” That’s the highest number of challenges the ALA has logged since it started tracking such data 20 years ago—and that’s not even the whole year.
Iowa had its own public library showdown last year in Vinton. In a matter of weeks last summer, the library lost both its director, who’d only served six months on the job, and its interim director, who clocked in a little over four weeks, over the complaints from critics who said the library and its board were pushing a liberal LGBTQ-agenda. The small town of 5,000 suddenly found itself in the national spotlight, another flashpoint in the culture wars. The library closed for roughly a month before volunteers came to the rescue. The town finally hired a new director, Kelly Henkle, a Drake grad, late last year. She said the library’s mission was to have “open access to all its collections without prejudice or judgment.”
A similar story played out this year in Front Royal, Virginia. According to the ALA, a local group decided to target the town’s only library, Samuels Public Library. Calling itself “Clean Up Samuels,” the group held two barbeque events that included “beer and babysitting” where people filled out Request for Reconsideration forms. Over 590 forms were filled out by 53 different people, targeting 134 unique titles, most of them children’s and young adult books with LGBTQ representation. The group then went to the county board of supervisors’ meetings asking that funding be withheld from the library until the books were pulled. In June, the board voted to withhold 75 percent of the library’s budget until it complied. In August, the library director resigned.
Things have gotten so heated lately that states are now pulling out of the American Library Association itself. The Montana State Library Commission voted in July to leave the ALA because the group’s president, Emily Drabinski, self-identified as a “Marxist lesbian” in a 2022 tweet. Texas followed suit soon after. Then Missouri’s Secretary of State John Ashcroft pulled the state out of the ALA because it claimed the ALA didn’t support the First Amendment. According to ABC News, another nine states are considering similar action.
To fight back against all the book-banning fervor, Pres. Joe Biden has hired Matt Nosanchuk as deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. A former Obama appointee, his job is to monitor and push back against book bans, particularly those that target LGBTQ materials.
And he has some allies in the courts. A U.S. district judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked a law that would have made it illegal for librarians and booksellers to provide “harmful” materials to minors. And last week Texas Federal Judge Alan D. Albright, a Trump appointee, giddily blocked a Texas law from going into effect, stating it contained “a web of unconstitutionally vague requirements” around the definition of obscenity.
All this trouble over books has JMM worried, of course. As journalists, we can’t stand by while some try to limit what people can read. Removing access to books isn’t about protecting kids. It’s about restricting ideas. It’s about keeping people’s worldviews small. It’s about a vocal minority getting its way. It’s about a few shutting off access to many. It’s about restricting freedom rather than granting it.
If parents are so worried about what their kids are reading, then read those books with them. Talk about them. Debate them. Explain them. Take responsibility for walking your kid through complex ideas. It's what JMM did. It’s what parents should do. Sure, you might not end up with a clone for a kid. You might end up with a critical thinker, someone who challenges the status quo—which just might be the thing folks banning books are worried about most of all.
Now on with the memo!
Save all the Dates
Mandy Hofmockel is always looking out for you. That’s just the kind of person she is. Not only does she run one of JMM’s favorite Substack newsletters, “Journalism Jobs and Photos of My Dog,” which definitely delivers on both, but she’s also started updating her internship calendar again. The Google Calendar not only lists deadlines but also has links to application pages. Like JMM said, she’s looking out for you.
Party Time
In two weeks, Pilcher is throwing a party—and it’s going to be awesome. No, it won’t involve his band, Faculty Lounge. They’ve sadly ended their run of shows for the season. Instead, he’s been diligently working on the second-best kind of throwdown: a journalism party. SJMC Week will feature a bevy of activities, from panels about landing an internship to agency tours. Here’s the full rundown:
· Oct. 2 – “Remembering Robert Ray” Panel featuring SJMC alum Jon Bowermaster, 7-8:30 p.m. in Sussman Theatre
· Oct. 3 – Student Resume critiques, as well as headshots for students, faculty, and staff, 2-4 p.m. in MER 124 C
· Oct. 4 – “Internships Unveiled: Building Skills and Networks for Future Success” presented by the E.T. Meredith Magazine Center, 10-11 a.m. – DBS Studio
· Oct. 5 – Intro to Multimedia Generative AI Tools, 3-4 p.m. in MER 125
· Oct. 6 – Drake SJMC Day of Service + PRSSA Day: PRSSA will host agency tours, while all SJMC students will be encouraged to volunteer at a venue of their choice and track participation through DUGood under “Drake SJMC” This year’s focus is “Fight Against Cancer.”
If you need more info about any of the events, hit Pilcher up at Timm.Pilcher@drake.edu.
Support Your Friends
As everyone knows, JMM really loves two things: student media and shiny awards. That love extends to those who help oversee student media as well, which is why it only seems appropriate to point out that Periphery advisor and English professor Carol Spaulding-Kruse is kind of a big deal.
Last year, her collection of short stories, Waiting for Mr. Kim and Other Stories, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. (It’s basically like winning an Oscar for short story types.) This year, that collection is getting a full hard-cover release. Waiting for Mr. Kim hit bookstores last week, and scored some early love from the San Francisco Chronicle, which called the book a “rare gift.” Not bad.
You can hear CSK talk about her book with former Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu Thurs., Sept. 28, from 6:30-8 p.m. at Beaverdale Books. Want a little more, check out her Substack “Between.”
The Rehash
• Applications for the Washington Post summer internship are due Oct. 4.
• Dow Jones News Fund applications are due Nov. 16.
Want to open a dialogue?
Do you have some essential info or just had your first print story in Cosmo like SJMC grad and Cosmo social media editor Maddie Hiatt (Mags, GD, ’18)? If you do, send it on over to jeff.inman@drake.edu. JMM will treat it like these AI-generated images of Jack Black as every Disney Princess and tell everyone about it.
Finally, make sure to verify everything.