Library Juice 4:24

Library Juice 4:24 - July 4, 2001

Contents:

getCITED
Social Responsibilities [at] Librarians.about.com
SIMILE Volume 1 Issue 2 May 2001
LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund
New List and Organization for Electronic Resources
Fair Use in Distance Ed
LA TIMES: "..one reason librarians have fallen on difficult times.."
Censorship High (Salon Mag)
Family Research Council Action Paper against ACLU and ALA
Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election
Action Agenda for Electoral Reform
FAQs of the U.S. Government
Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky
Letter from Mitch Freedman on his decision not to attend the Inaugural
Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson?
Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt
BRITISH PAPER FACES SUIT OVER PALAST INVESTIGATION
Librarian may have led summit riot
New Laughing Librarian Sign
L.A.C.K. Update
Congratulations to Kay Raseroka

Quote for the week:
"From error to error one discovers the entire truth."
-Sigmund Freud
Personal homepage of the week: Curry (anti-librarian)
http://www.RubberBurner.com/
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1. getCITED
http://www.getcited.org/
This site is an ambitious project to facilitate searches for book chapters,
working papers, conference papers, and other types of publications and
academic research not commonly indexed. The project is off to a running
start with over 315,000 identities and 3,250,000 publications indexed, but
the site creators are requesting the cooperation of "the entire academic
community." Scholars are encouraged to register with the site (for free) and
enter in the details of their publications. Anyone may search the database
for publications, identities, institutions, or departments, but only
registered members may add or edit content. A free database created solely
by and for researchers and scholars is an attractive idea and deserves
support. It must be noted, however, that like so many other free online
services, getCITED is searching for advertisers and sponsors and does not
appear to have long-term guaranteed funding. A strong showing of support and
interest from the academic community may make this task easier. [MD]
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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2. Social Responsibilities [at] Librarians.about.com/
"In case you get the feeling that the whole profession has sold out to
technology and 'business partners', check out a couple of the
organizations noted on this page."
http://librarians.about.com/careers/librarians/cs/socialresponse/index.htm
(This is from the About.com newsletter for librarians, vol. 3 no. 11,
put together by Tim Wojcik, who does http://librarians.about.com/ )
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3. SIMILE Volume 1 Issue 2 May 2001
is now available at
http://www.utpjournals.com/simile
Announcing the second issue of Studies in Media & Information Literacy
Education (SIMILE), a new e-journal published by the University of Toronto
Press. The journal, which is currently available for free, is intended to
be an electronic meeting place for anyone and everyone interested in the
broad subject of media literacy. The journal will be published four times
per year, in February, May, August, and November. Each issue will contain
three or four full-length refereed articles from scholars approaching media
literacy from a wide variety of perspectives. There will also be comments
about these articles (more about this feature below). Special care will be
taken to include viewpoints from outside North America.
SIMILE hopes to bring together scholars and educators at all levels from the
research university to the grade school to the community college and
everything in between. The submission of theoretically-based work that has
been tested and applied in the field-the kind of work that demands
collaboration between university-based researchers and, for example, high
school teachers-is strongly encouraged.
---------
For more information or to submit manuscripts please visit
www.utpjournals.com/simile or contact
Editor
Juris Dilevko
Faculty of Information Studies
University of Toronto
140 St. George Street,
Room 644
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 3G6
dilevko[at]fis.utoronto.ca
or
University of Toronto Press-Journals Division
5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T8 Canada
email: journals[at]utpress.utoronto.ca
tel 416.667.7810
fax 416.667.7881
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4. LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund
http://www.merrittfund.org/
The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund was established as a special
trust in memory of Dr. LeRoy C. Merritt
(http://www.merrittfund.org/lcmerritt.html). It is devoted to the
support, maintenance, medical care, and welfare of librarians who, in
the Trustees* opinion, are:
**Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of
sex, sexual preference, race, color, creed, or
place of national origin;
**Threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their
stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of
freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the freedom of librarians
to select items for their collections from all the world*s written
and
recorded information.
The Merritt Fund is governed by a board of three trustees who are
elected by donors of the Fund.
How to Donate to the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund
http://www.merrittfund.org/donate.html
Application for Assistance
http://www.merrittfund.org/application.html
How to Contact the Merritt Fund
http://www.merrittfund.org/trustees.html#slsmerritt
Merritt Trustees
http://www.merrittfund.org/trustees.html
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5. New List and Organization for Electronic Resources
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 16:14:05 -0500
From: "Beatrice Calvin" <bcalvin[at]ala.org>
To: OLOS Chairs <oloschrs[at]ala.org>
We are pleased to announce the beginning of a discussion list, Electronic
Resources in Libraries. ERIL is a forum for discussion of the practical
aspects of handling electronic resources. Issues covered could include:
collection development policy, electronic journal holdings, use
statistics, licensing and negotiation, product set-up and maintenance, and
specific product issues. Emphasis is on the sharing of experiences and
expertise among librarians in this relatively new area of the profession
and the list is therefore limited to librarians. For more information or
to subscribe, please visit http://www.topica.com/lists/eril.
We are also forming a collaborative organization of librarians from all
walks in the profession to pool their talents. Impromptu and planned
meetings of electronic resources librarians will be organized at all
conferences and other venues where we express an interest. This
organization, also going by the name ERIL, will share actions taken and
information learned with all other electronic resource librarians via the
ERIL list and the ERIL group-maintained web site, which is currently in
the planning stages. Further information about the web site will be
posted as it develops.
Abigail Bordeaux
Electronic Resources Access Librarian
Binghamton University Libraries
Binghamton, NY 13902
607.777.3217
bordeaux[at]binghamton.edu
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6. Fair Use in Distance Ed
THE U.S. SENATE HAS PASSED A BILL that would allow faculty
members to use many of the same copyrighted works in online
courses that they've long been allowed to use in traditional
ones.
--> SEE http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001061201u.htm
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7. LA TIMES: "..one reason librarians have fallen on difficult times.."
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20010611/t000048609.html
Copyright © 2001 Los Angeles Times
"Some Overdue Attention" Monday, June 11, 2001
"...librarians have fallen on difficult times, with demand
far exceeding supply and the ranks of those retiring, or about to,
exceeding incoming rookies. It's worst for the nation's 120,000-plus public
libraries, which must compete as public service callings against the
brighter allure and higher pay of World Wide Web design companies. The
67-branch Los Angeles system confronts high staff attrition, a stubborn 17%
vacancy rate and one-third of its librarians nearing retirement."
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8. Censorship High (Salon Mag)
"A 17-year-old takes a stand against a school Web-filtering system that
screens out Planned Parenthood but not the Christian Coalition."
By Daniel Silverman
June 14, 2001 | TUSTIN, Calif.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/14/net_filtering/index.html
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9. Family Research Council Action Paper against ACLU and ALA
"Computer Pornography: Defeating the ACLU and the ALA"
A document of the Right-Wing opposition to the American Library Association
over filtering. Scarier than Stephen King.
This pdf is 20 pages.
http://www.frc.org/papers/booklets/archives/bl050.pdf
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10. Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election
http://www.usccr.gov/vote2000/stdraft1/main.htm
A draft report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights on June 8, 2001. - dl
From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
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11. Action Agenda for Electoral Reform
http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral/
A collaborative project of Progressive Challenge, Institute for Policy
Studies, and _The Nation_, this site is a clearinghouse for information and
"a springboard for action" on electoral reform. Visitors to the site can
find electronic resources related to a number of electoral reform issues,
locate voters' rights groups in their area, learn about upcoming conferences
and rallies, read archived pieces from _The Nation_, track electoral reform
legislation, and browse the Electoral Reform Speakers Bureau, among other
things. [MD]
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
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12. FAQs of the U.S. Government
http://www.faq.gov/
Have a question about federal programs, benefits, or
services but don't know which U.S. government agency
to contact? This site groups those most frequently asked
questions by topic, links to the FAQ pages of specific
government agencies, and provides the FirstGov search
engine. Portal site of award-winning FirstGov. - beb
From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
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13. Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky
Interviews with David Barsamian
In this new collection of interviews with David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky
interrogates the institutions that shape the public mind in the service of
power and profit. Whether discussing U.S. military escalation in Colombia,
the attack on Social Security, the rise of HMOs, or growing inequality
worldwide, Chomsky shows how ordinary citizens have the power to make
meaningful change.
Noam Chomsky, described in a 1998 New York Times profile as an "exploder of
received truths," is Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. David Barsamian is the producer of the award-winning syndicated
radio program Alternative Radio. He has published interview books with
Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Edward Said, and Noam Chomsky.
For more information on this title, go to
http://www.southendpress.org/books/PAPM.htm
To order desk/exam copies, go to
http://www.southendpress.org/examform.html
To order review copies, go to
http://www.southendpress.org/revform.html
For more information on Alternative Radio, go to
http://www.alternativeradio.org
South End Press
7 Brookline Street #1
Cambridge, MA 02139-4146
617-547-4002 phone
617-547-1333 fax
E-mail: southend[at]southendpress.org
http://www.southendpress.org
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14. Letter from Mitch Freedman on his decision not to attend the Inaugural
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing this message to those 4,300+ people that voted for me, as
well as all other ALA members.
I will not be attending the ALA Inaugural Banquet, at which I was
scheduled to be inaugurated as President-Elect, 2001-2002. I will not
be attending the 3rd Executive Board meeting, the one I should attend as
ALA President-Elect.
Although I was going to attend the ALA Awards presentations so that I
could be there for the presentation of the Lippincott Award to one of my
dearest friends, Patricia Glass Schuman, I will not. Ms. Schuman is
honoring the boycott and will not attend the Awards ceremony, as are the
recipient of the Equality Award, and its donor, Scarecrow Press, who
also will not attend. I have been told by others scheduled to be
inaugurated or receive awards that they will not attend those events.
I chose not to attend all three of these events, plus other meetings to
which I was invited or would have liked to attend, because they are all
being held in the Marriott Hotel.
I am supporting the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE),
Local 2, call for a boycott of the Marriott Hotel. For the following
reasons, I made this decision:
1. I chose to support the boycott request made by the San Francisco
Public Library Commission (the host library for the convention), the
mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, and 9 of the 11 members of the
Board of Supervisors. This extraordinary confluence of support by
public officials of the labor side in this kind of dispute is
unprecedented in my memory.
2. I ran for ALA President and was elected on a platform that included
as a chief plank, improving library workers' salaries. I felt that it
was wholly inconsistent with that platform to ignore the plea for
support by HERE in their struggle to improve their salaries, working
conditions, and get redress on other compensation issues.
3. As a graduate student at Berkeley, 1961-1965, I demonstrated for the
integration of the hotel staffs of the San Francisco hotel association
members, among other causes. Incidentally those demonstrations were
concluded successfully, and people of color were hired for positions
they otherwise had not been considered for. I choose not to betray,
now, the ideals and commitment of conscience I made back then, by
entering the Marriott.
Rather than simply ask the ALA Officers and Executive Board to move the
above events and meetings, I also offered low-cost or free
alternatives. All of these communications were private.
I was particularly dismayed that the one clearly free alternative was
rejected. The director of the San Francisco Public Library, Susan
Hildreth, graciously made available meeting room facilities so that the
Exec Board could hold all of its meetings in the library at no charge to
ALA.
I originally contacted Ms. Hildreth and asked for this assistance, and
then wrote to the Executive Board, along with my request to move the
meetings, to inform the Board of the availability of the free room at
SFPL. I especially, and most respectfully, asked the Exec Board to hold
its 3rd Meeting at the Library so that I could officially attend and
fulfill the responsibilities that I was recently elected to discharge.
I do not recall being offered an explanation regarding the Exec Board
meetings, but I was indirectly informed that cost and other
considerations precluded the Awards and Inaugural events being moved.
As above, I was disappointed that the Exec Board decided to keep its
meetings in the Marriott, not just for myself, but for others who wanted
to attend Exec Board meetings, but were supporting the boycott.
Due to this exercise of conscience, we have all been precluded from
attending any of the Exec Board meetings. Or from the Executive Board's
perspective, we have precluded ourselves from attending these meetings.
I write this message by way of explanation as to what actions I have
taken and why.
I will conclude by suggesting that others who support the boycott give
consideration to participating in the demonstrations scheduled all-day
Friday and Saturday, and Tuesday evening. The demonstrations were
organized by HERE and the librarian members in the Bay Area librarians
union.
I pledge to work with the Executive Board for the good of the
Association, its members, and America's libraries, as I always have.
But in good conscience, I just won't be able to attend this conference's
Executive Board meetings, especially the third meeting the one to which
I was elected to attend.
To those who feel that ALA should not be involved in these labor
disputes, I respect your views, and trust that you will respect mine.
You may be surprised to know that the ALA contract with the Marriott
contains a clause that permits the Association to leave the Marriott if
there is a formal "strike" called against the hotel. The ALA Council
will receive a resolution requesting ALA to expand the "strike" clause
in future contracts to include a "boycott" out-clause as well. I will
support this resolution.
It would be a terrible shame if the kinds of divisions and conflict
resulting from the current situation should ever recur. I would have
much preferred to devote all of my energies to the issues I raised as a
candidate, as well as such issues as accreditation, etc. that are of
major significance to our profession.
All of the above notwithstanding, I wish you a happy and successful
conference experience. It's probably the 33rd annual conference I will
be attending. I can only say that attending ALA conferences has been an
incredibly enriching experience because of what I learned, the wonderful
people I met and lifelong friends I have made, and the amount of
business I could conduct successfully as part of my job.
Very best wishes.
Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman
President-Elect, 2001-2002 (as of June 20th, 2001)
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15. Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson?
From: Mark Rosenzweig [mailto:iskra[at]earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 4:18 PM
To: ALA Council List
Cc: wgordon[at]ala.org; nkranich[at]ala.org
Subject: [ALACOUN:6123] Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson
Forwarded, to my horror, by my good friend Carol Reid of the NY State
Library and NYLA.
This is yet another example of the mindlessness, the indiscriminate
decision making, the bush-league consultants' influence to which we submit
ourselves, taking us into a world where "spin control" becomes an everyday
issue.
Will ALA take any responsibility for this execrable choice of
spokesperson, driven by a mind-set from the coroporate world of advertising
and branding being promoted by ALA which is exactly the kind of thing I
have been at pains to remind ALA Inc of at every opportunity.
I demand tha this choice be publicly a) explained b) reversed c) apologized
for, not only by Florida but by ALA headquarters, the Exceutive Board and
President.
Mark Rosenzweig
Councilor at large
>Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 15:50:28 -0400
>From: "Carol Reid" <creid[at]MAIL.NYSED.GOV>
>To: <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>, <alaoif[at]ala1.ala.org>, <PLGNet-L[at]listproc.sjsu.edu>
>Subject: Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson
>Florida's "Born to Read" campaign, a national literacy program developed
>by the American Library Association, has chosen New York Knicks point
>guard Charlie Ward as their official spokesperson. Ward has also made a
>name for himself by declaring that "Jews are stubborn ... why did they
>persecute Jesus unless he knew something they didn't want to accept? ...
>They had his blood on their hands." Whose court is this ball in now? Does
>ALA bear any responsibility for this questionable choice of role model for
>young readers?
>
>For an uncritical report of this "honor," see:
>
>http://www.dos.state.fl.us/press/oss/read.html
>
>For a more trenchant analysis, see:
>
>http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010702&s=alterman
>
>Carol Reid
>New York State Library
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
[ALACOUN:6125] RE: Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 16:28:46 -0400
From: "Needham, George" <needhamg[at]oclc.org>
To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>
Wait a minute---how does this transmogrify into "Anti-Semite as
ALA spokesperson?" From the press release which linked below, it's
clear that this decision was made by the Florida Secretary of
State.
George Needham
Councilor at Large
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Re: [ALACOUN:6125] RE: Anti-Semite as ALA spokesperson
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 19:13:07 -0400
From: Mark Rosenzweig <iskra[at]earthlink.net>
To: needhamg[at]oclc.org, alacoun[at]ala.org
Cc: srrtac-l[at]ala.org, plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu
Mr Needham states:
>Wait a minute---how does this transmogrify into "Anti-Semite as
>ALA spokesperson?" From the press release which linked below, it's
>clear that this decision was made by the Florida Secretary of
>State.
>
>George Needham
>Councilor at Large
My honorable fellow Councilor.
I know you think I have scared the poop out of people on Council with
sarcasm and a little invective (blaming me for this is a little like
the Philistines blaming David for using non-regulation stones in his
sling slung at Goliath), but I nonetheless think you deserve to have
the seemingly "missing link (no, not me!) revealed to you in the
posting on ALA, the "Born to Read" camapaign and the choice of the
Knicks' Charlie Ward as the spokesperson for such a campaign in
Florida.
I hope you are not unaware of the fact that "Born To Read" is an ALA
-supported initiative (and by NO means a bad one!) The "missing link"
to establish ALA's responsibility for a program that, in Florida (as
probably in many places), is driven more by image than substance, has
chosen, of all the basketball players in the nation, is at the
following website http://www.ala.org/alsc/born.html.
Here's a quote from the Florida Department of State clearly stating the
connection with ALA:
"The Born to Read program is a national literacy program developed by the
American Library Association that the Department of State,
Division of Library and Information Services brought to Florida in 1997.
"We started with 10 programs in 1997 and currently have 21 operating in
the state" said Secretary Harris. "The community partnerships that are at
the core of this literacy program are what make it such a success.
Libraries, community groups, health departments and clinics, doctors'
office, and hospitals are all part of the Born to Read program."
They the go on to laud nationally famous Jew-hater (although excellent
and handsome and mediagenic basketball player) Charlie Ward of the NY
Knicks as their spokesperson.
Well, excuse me if I find it beyond insensitive and offensive to
choose, of all the excellent basketball players, in all the cities of
all these United States, one whose fame, at the moment, rests on his
diatribe against my forefathers based on the infamous claim that they
are (and so I am) the descendents of the killers of Jesus Christ.
Excuse me if I as a human being, an atheist, a secularist, a
librarian, who, of Jewish backgrouind, abhors racism and bigotry of
all kinds and actively fights it, finds the laissez faire,
states-rights approach to this matter intolerable.
ALA better act and act fast on this. What I'm saying is, I believe, in
the best interests of the Association and the profession (as I believe
many of the things I say you which you dismiss because of their
combative style are) and I truly im,plore the ALA leadership to
publicly disassociate itself from this campaign.
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16.
THE MOST BIASED NAME IN NEWS:
Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt
July 2, 2001
Fox News Channel wraps itself in slogans of journalistic objectivity like
"Fair and balanced" and "We report, you decide," but a new FAIR report finds
a dramatic right-wing tilt in the network's news.
The full report is in three parts, all available online:
--The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing
tilt
--Fox's Slanted Sources: Conservatives, Republicans far outnumber others
--Bill O'Reilly's Sheer O'Reillyness: Don't call him conservative-- but he
is
http://www.fair.org/reports/fox.html
In a study of interviewees on the network's signature political news show,
Special Report with Brit Hume, FAIR found that of 56 partisan guests in a
five month period, 50 were Republicans and six were Democrats. That's 89
percent Republican, a greater than 8 to 1 imbalance.
But Special Report-- originally created as a daily hour-long update on the
1998 Clinton sex scandals-- doesn't just skew Republican, it skews
conservative: During the course of the study, 65 of the show's total of 92
guests (71 percent) were avowed conservatives. Conservatives outnumbered all
other points of view, including non-political guests, by a factor of more
than 2 to 1.
What's more, the show featured only eight female guests and six people of
color, making for a guest list that was 91 percent male and 93 percent
white.
The darling of conservative politicos, Fox News Channel's entire editorial
philosophy revolves around the idea that the network is an antidote to
supposedly "liberal" mainstream media like CNN. But the facts just don't
back Fox up. As a comparison to Special Report, FAIR studied interviewees on
CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports over the same period, and found that of 67
partisan guests, 38 were Republicans and 29 Democrats-- 57 percent
Republican versus Special Report's 89 percent. About 32 percent of Wolf
Blitzer's total guests were avowed conservatives, versus 65 percent on
Special Report.
Fox often has trouble keeping the partisanship of its main news
personalities in check. In 1996, for instance, Fox anchor Tony Snow endorsed
Bob Dole for president in a Republican National Committee magazine. At the
2000 Republican Convention, Snow-- ostensibly a journalist covering a news
event-- gave a speech before to Republican Youth Caucus. Trent Lott followed
up with a cheer of "How about Tony Snow in 2008?"
The on-air bias is often just as pronounced. Liberals come in for regular
bashing on the show of Fox's star performer, Bill O'Reilly. Since 1998, The
O'Reilly Factor has run an astounding 56 segments about Jesse Jackson-- that
means that one out of every 12 episodes of the show featured a Jackson
segment, many with themes like "How personal are African-Americans taking
the moral failures of Reverend Jesse Jackson?"
During the 2000 election, O'Reilly wondered whether Al Gore was running "on
a quasi-socialistic platform" with "work and production being supervised by
the government." After the election, O'Reilly's softball treatment of the
new administration was a marked contrast to his scrutiny of Clinton--
"President Bush ran on the slogan 'reformer with results,'" said O'Reilly.
"That sounds good to me." So much for the "No spin zone."
Check out the full report at:
http://www.fair.org/reports/fox.html
----------
Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair[at]fair.org ). We can't reply to
everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate
documented example of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of
your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to us
at: fair[at]fair.org .
FAIR ON THE AIR: FAIR's founder Jeff Cohen is a regular panelist on the Fox
News Channel's "Fox News Watch," which airs which airs Saturdays at 7 pm and
Sundays at 11 am (Eastern Standard Time). Check your local listings.
FAIR produces CounterSpin, a weekly radio show heard on over 130 stations in
the U.S. and Canada. To find the CounterSpin station nearest you, visit
http://www.fair.org/counterspin/stations.html .
Please support FAIR by subscribing to our bimonthly magazine, Extra!
For more information, go to:
http://www.fair.org/extra/subscribe.html . Or call 1-800-847-3993.
FAIR's INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: FAIR accepts internship applications for its New
York office on a rolling basis. For more information, see:
http://www.fair.org/internships.html
You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: http://www.fair.org , or by
sending a "subscribe FAIR-L enter your full name" command to
LISTSERV[at]LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.
You may leave the list at any time-- just send a message with "SIGNOFF
FAIR-L" in the body to: LISTSERV[at]LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU .
FAIR
(212) 633-6700
http://www.fair.org/
E-mail: fair[at]fair.org
list administrators: FAIR-L-request[at]american.edu
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17. BRITISH PAPER FACES SUIT OVER PALAST INVESTIGATION
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 12:50:13 +0100
From: "Richard Alexander" <rick.blackchip[at]virgin.net>
To: <librarians[at]lists.tao.ca>
Reply to: librarians[at]lists.tao.ca
Fellow librarians and / or anarchs
I have had this forwarded to me and felt that as we sometimes discuss
censorship that it was worthy of your attention. It has many implications
for "freedom of speech", web-issues, power of capital etc.
From: greg[at]gregpalast.com
To: love[at]cptech.org
Subject: ALERT: BRITISH PAPER FACES SUIT OVER PALAST INVESTIGATION
ALERT! BRITAIN'S OBSERVER SUED BY COMPANY OVER PALAST INVESTIGATION INTO
LINKS TO BUSH, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
In retaliation for the investigative story about the finances of the
George W. Bush campaign, Barrick Gold Mining of Canada has sued my
paper, the Observer of London, for libel. The company, which hired the
elder Bush after his leaving the White House, is charging the newspaper
with libel for quoting an Amnesty International report, which alleged
that 50 miners might have been buried alive in Tanzania by a company now
owned by Barrick.
The company has also demanded the Observer and its parent, Guardian
Newspapers, force me to remove the article from my US website, a
frightening extension of Britain's punitive libel laws into the World
Wide Web. The company has also issued legal threats against Tanzanian
human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu, one of the Observer's independent
sources and an investigator of the mine-site allegations.
The attack by Barrick and its controversial Chairman, Peter Munk, one of
the wealthiest men in Canada, who boasts of his propensity to sue, also
aims to gag my reporting on his company's purchase of rights to a gold
mine in Nevada - containing $10 billion in gold - for a payment of under
$10,000 to the US Treasury.
My Observer story, Best Democracy Money Can Buy, looked into the
activities of several corporations linked to the Bushes. It was in that
article I first disclosed that over 50,000 Florida voters, most of them
Black, were wrongly tagged as 'felons,' and targeted for removal from
the voter rolls. My follow-up reports in Salon.com, The Nation, and the
Washington Post as well as on BBC-TV's Newsnight provided the basis for
the US Civil Rights Commission finding of massive, wrongful voter
disenfranchisement in Florida.
My entire continuing investigation is in jeopardy. It is difficult to
imagine how my paper, owned by the non-profit Scott Trust, myself and
human rights lawyer Lissu can withstand the financial punishment of
litigation by the centi-millionaire Munk and his corporation.
In its latest Annual report, Amnesty says it cannot verify the
allegations of the mine killings because the government continues to
resist an independent investigation. Yet Barrick wants our paper to
state what we know to be untrue: that independent investigation found
the charges completely baseless. Yet our quoting Amnesty is no defense.
Americans cannot conceive of the medieval operation of British libel
law. It does not permit the defense of "repetition" - straightforward
reporting on the statements of human rights groups are banned, a gag
nearly as effective as Burmese law.
Independently of Amnesty, attorney Lissu went to the mine site and
provided our paper with witness statements. Tanzanians have offered
their services to help defend against censorship in Britain, a poignant
reversal for our paper which, with imperial pomp, has launched a 'Press
Freedom Campaign' to excoriate developing nations over gagging
journalists.
'10 Little Piggies,' Adnan Khashoggi, and The Greatest Gold Heist Since
Butch Cassidy
Peter Munk's reputation precedes him. Last year, Mother Jones named him
one of America's 'Ten Little Piggies' for his US gold mine's literally
'poisoning the water' through what environmentalists consider polluting
extraction practices.
How Barrick got the gold mine is something they would rather we not
report.
First, Munk was set up in the gold business by funds from Saudi arms
dealer Adnan Khashoggi. We are being sued for discussing this
connection although the information comes from Peter Munk himself,
quoted in his biography.
Second, Barrick struck it rich when the company used (or misused, say
many) an old Gold Rush law to claim rights on a Nevada mine containing
$10 billion in gold by paying the US Treasury less than $10,000. They
are suing my paper for publicizing this extraordinary transaction, which
US Interior Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt called, "the biggest
gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy," and "a form of legalized
extortion."
Barrick's suit claims the Observer libeled them by failing to state that
Barrick had to spend money to buy other rights and equipment to dig the
gold out of the ground. What an odd misreading of our words. We never
said the US government mailed the gold bars to Barrick in Canada. We
only said that Barrick got the gold mine and the public got the shaft.
The company's CEO has also demanded his lawyers slice a pound of our
journalistic flesh for mentioning that he, "made his name in Canada in
the 1960s as the figure in an infamous insider stock-trading scandal."
Yet, we read this in the Canadian magazine Macleans: "The failure of
[Clairetone Corporation] cost Munk his business and his reputation.
Most damning were allegations of insider trading that were made after it
was discovered that he and [his partner] had sold shares in 1967 just
before some of Clairetone's most serious problems became known."
Lynching by Libel Law
The clear purpose of the suit is, as Barrick says, to force the Observer
to say the investigation "should never have been published" - an inquiry
into those who purchase the favor and influence of the Bush family, not
just Barrick. The article was about the blizzard of money whirling
around a family of Presidents and their associations. Among other paid
favors for Barrick, the former President wrote the dictator Suharto to
convince him, successfully, to grant another gold concession to Barrick.
And more than Barrick came into our investigative cross hairs. There
was Chevron Corporation, and ChoicePoint, the firm at the center of the
racially charged voter purge in Florida. This suit with malicious tone
attempts to besmirch our entire investigation and to undermine ours and
others further investigations into Bush and Barrick.
The Observer's official history quotes a media critic's statement that
the papers new editor,
"... is expected to continue the paper's tradition of crusading
reporting as in the Lobbygate investigate investigation."
In that 'Lobbygate' story, well known in the UK, I went undercover with
my partner Antony Barnett to expose corruption at the heart of the Blair
cabinet.
But the wrath of a Prime Minister is easy to dismiss - and our awards
were a pleasant salve. The withering, costly pounding of an enraged
corporate power with too much money to spend has chilled reporters' and
British newspapers' will to take on the tougher investigative matters.
Amnesty is, "silent on the advice of lawyers." And so, the witness
statements of those who watched the bodies exhumed, and one who dug his
way from the mass grave, will now also remain entombed in legal silence.
How much longer I can hold the line if abandoned by the Guardian's Scott
Trust - which is cracking under the weight of legal bills - I cannot
say. And the consequences of capitulation to our source and defender,
Tundu Lissu and his Tanzanian human rights organization, we cannot
imagine.
Gregory.palast[at]guardian.co.uk
www.GregPalast.com
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18. Librarian may have led summit riot
BY DAVID LISTER AND DANIEL MCGRORY
"A BRITISH librarian is suspected of being a ringleader of the violent
protests at the European Summit in Gothenburg.
Paul Robinson, 32, who faces possible charges of sabotage, is still being
questioned by Swedish detectives after the worst rioting in the countrys
recent history."
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001210187,00.html
________________________________________________________________________top

19. New Laughing Librarian Sign
(Note - you may not want to read this at work if others will see the
screen.)
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 10:59:55 -0400
From: daniel_singer[at]abtassoc.com
To: libraryunderground[at]topica.com
Reply to: daniel_singer[at]abtassoc.com
Ok, so none of us could EVER put this sign up in our libraries, colleges,
rec rooms, etc. But wouldn't each and every one of us WANT to?
http://internettrash.com/users/lafnlibn/killyou.htm
Dan
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________________________________________________________________________top

20. L.A.C.K. Update
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 09:39:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Zammarelli <perniciouslib[at]yahoo.com>
To: Library Underground <libraryunderground[at]topica.com>
Librarians Are Corrupting Kids, and it's easier to do
than ever! Visit the L.A.C.K. Blog at
http://www.conk.com/zed/lack/ and see how we do it!
Chris
=====
Me? I'm a shrill czar.
http://www.conk.com/zed/
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder,
and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the
Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of
democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." - Harry
Lime (Orson Welles), "The Third Man"
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
From the website:
"Welcome to the L.A.C.K. (Librarians Are Corrupting Kids) home page. The
purpose of this Web site is, well, to corrupt your kids. More specifically,
the librarian(s) posting to this blog will keep your kids updated on books
that have been banned/burned/deemed inappropriate all around the world.
Also, we will be posting articles related to various topics that get lefty
librarians all hot and bothered, such as internet filters in public
libraries."
"That's L.A.C.K.'s initial purpose, anyway. Like all things on the Web,
it'll probably evolve into a strange perversion of its original intent. Of
course, since that may involve BSDM librarian erotica, it might not be all
bad."
________________________________________________________________________top

21. Congratulations to Kay Raseroka
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 20:07:52 -0000
From: Frode Bakken <mrfrodebakken[at]HOTMAIL.COM>
To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA
The support campaign for Kay Raseroka will hereby congratulate her with the
election as president-elect of IFLA
Reference:
http://listserv.nlc-bnc.ca/cgi-bin/ifla-lwgate.pl/IFLA-L/archives/ifla-l.log0104/Author/article-9.html
http://listserv.nlc-bnc.ca/cgi-bin/ifla-lwgate.pl/IFLA-L/archives/ifla-l.log0104/Author/article-27.html
Signed:
Association des bibliothecaires francais (ABF)
Association of Danish Public Library Managers
Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
BIB Berufsverband Information Bibliothek e.V.
Bibliotekarforbundet Danish Union of Librarians (BF)
Botswana Library Association
Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Bibliotheksverbande (BDB)
Canadian Library Association
Comite francais pour l'IFLA (CFI)
Commonwealth Library Association (COMLA)
The Danish Research Library Association (DF)
DIK association library (Sweden)
Finnish Library Association
EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation =
Associations)
HK/Kommunal Library committee (Denmark)
Librarians Association of Malaysia (Persatuan Pustakawan Malaysia- PPM)
The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA)
Library Association (UK)
Library Association of Ireland
Library Association of Trinidad and Tobago
Macau Libraries and Information Management Association
Nederlandse Vereniging van Beroepsbeoefenaren in de Bibliotheek-,
informatie- en Kennissector (NVB, Netherlands)
Netherlands Public Library Association (NBLC)
Norwegian Library Association
Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives (PIALA)
Papua New Guinea Library Association
Russian Library Association
SKIP (Association of Library and Information Professionals of the Czech
Republic)
Sociedad de Bibliotecarios de Puerto Rico
Swedish Library Association
Swedish Society for Technical Documentation (TLS)
Uganda Library Association
UKB/Samenwerkingsverband van de Universiteitsbibliotheken, Koninklijke
Bibliotheek en de Bibliotheek van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie
van Wetenschappen (Netherlands)
Vlaamse Vereniging voor Bibliotheek-, Archief- en Dokumentatiewezen
(VVBAD)
________________________________________________________________________top
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