Report Outline
Public Concern Over Impact of the Comics
Rise of Comics in American Newspapering
Methods of Controlling Objectionable Comics
Serious Uses of Comic Strip Techniques
Public Concern Over Impact of the Comics
Passage by the New York legislature shortly before its March adjournment of legislation to ban publication and sale of comic books which tend to incite minors to crime or violence again directs attention to a subject that has worried American parents for years. The bill was recommended by a joint committee which for two years had studied the effects of comic books on youth; it was accepted by the Senate and Assembly by almost unanimous votes. If signed by Gov. Dewey and upheld by the courts, the new legislation will have wide effects because New York is the publishing center of the comic book industry.
Possibilities of congressional attention to the comics are indicated by a resolution introduced by Rep. Gathings (D., Ark.) which would set up a select committee to determine “the extent to which current literature—books, magazines and comic books—containing immoral, obscene, or otherwise offensive matter, or placing improper emphasis on crime, violence and corruption, are being made available to the people of the United States”. A similar resolution has been offered by Rep. Rees (R., Kan.) and a second Gathings resolution calls for an investigation of television.
American comics, now widely sold abroad, have stirred up controversy in other lands as well as in the United States. The parliaments of France and Canada have adopted laws banning circulation of crime comics. And a group of British school teachers asked in January that action be taken to prevent the sale in England of American comic books which they described as “pernicious and degrading publications”. |
|
|
 |
Apr. 16, 2004 |
Broadcast Indecency |
 |
Mar. 28, 2003 |
Movie Ratings |
 |
Nov. 17, 1995 |
Sex, Violence and the Media |
 |
Feb. 19, 1993 |
School Censorship |
 |
Dec. 20, 1991 |
The Obscenity Debate |
 |
Dec. 07, 1990 |
Does Cable TV Need More Regulation? |
 |
May 16, 1986 |
Pornography |
 |
Jan. 04, 1985 |
The Modern First Amendment |
 |
Oct. 19, 1979 |
Pornography Business Upsurge |
 |
Mar. 09, 1979 |
Broadcasting's Deregulated Future |
 |
Mar. 21, 1973 |
Pornography Control |
 |
May 17, 1972 |
Violence in the Media |
 |
Jan. 21, 1970 |
First Amendment and Mass Media |
 |
Jul. 05, 1967 |
Prosecution and the Press |
 |
Jun. 28, 1961 |
Peacetime Censorship |
 |
Apr. 12, 1961 |
Censorship of Movies and TV |
 |
Dec. 23, 1959 |
Regulation of Television |
 |
Jul. 29, 1959 |
Control of Obscenity |
 |
Jul. 27, 1955 |
Bad Influences on Youth |
 |
Mar. 21, 1952 |
Policing the Comics |
 |
Apr. 12, 1950 |
Censorship of Motion Pictures |
 |
Sep. 20, 1939 |
Censorship of Press and Radio |
| | |
|