Twenty-two days after being asked the question, Andrew Shelffo has at last declared on his MassLive blog: “I’m not being paid by Capital Video.” We applaud Mr. Shelffo’s new found candor, if not his promptness in responding to a relevant citizen inquiry. The ethics of citizen journalism may be somewhat uncharted territory, but there are […]
Continue reading Andrew Shelffo Denies Being Paid by Capital Video
There is some disagreement in the Northampton blogosphere about the rules for citizen journalists. Bill Mitchell and Bob Steele suggest some guidelines in “Earn Your Own Trust, Roll Your Own Ethics: Transparency and Beyond” (2005). [Quoting blogger David Weinberger:] “We need professional journalists. But for most blogs, we want to know what the writer’s starting […]
Some of our opponents require unreasonable degrees of proof that adult businesses cause secondary effects and aggressively question the right of cities to regulate them. Fortunately, the US Supreme Court better understands the realities of urban planning. Here we quote from the majority decision in City of Los Angeles v Alameda Books (2002). The matter […]
Daniel R. Mandelker is the Stamper Professor of Law at Washington University. John M. Payne is Professor of Law & Justice Hall Scholar at Rutgers University. They kindly provide to the public a Sample Ordinance on Sexually Oriented Business Regulation as a starting point for city planners. This comprehensive ordinance includes the following sections: Purpose […]
Continue reading Law Professors Provide Comprehensive Sample Adult-Use Ordinance for City Planners
Gary Hill is the Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists. We asked him about what obligations citizen journalists like Andrew Shelffo have to disclose conflicts of interest. He wrote: I should state at the outset that I have no independent information about the situation you describe, so rather than respond […]
Continue reading Suggested Ethics Rules for Citizen Journalists
Andrew Shelffo is a resident of Northampton who has a blog on MassLive, The Prospect Perspective. Since July, Mr. Shelffo has been vigorously advancing many of Capital Video’s arguments and attacking our own. On November 8, NoPornNorthampton asked him if he was being compensated in any way by Capital Video or its affiliates. We were […]
Continue reading MassLive Blogger Andrew Shelffo Stonewalls on Conflict of Interest Question
Some opponents of adult-use zoning claim that since porn involves speech, the Constitution written by the founders of our country requires us to avoid regulating the porn business in any way. Debates over how to interpret the Constitution have arisen before, of course, most notably at the time of the Civil War. Union general (and […]
Continue reading Ulysses S. Grant: Matching the Constitution to Present Realities
Today’s Republican reports on time limits for political yard signs in WMass communities. In Northampton, “signs not pertaining to an election must be taken down 90 days after they are put up.” We encourage our supporters to comply with this ordinance. We appreciate all of you who put up our yard signs, helping us to […]
Continue reading The Republican: 90-Day Limit on Northampton Yard Signs
NPN’s Jendi Reiter reviews Pamela Paul, Pornified: How Pornography Is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families (New York: Owl Books/Henry Holt & Co., 2005). Freelance journalist Pamela Paul, a contributor to Time Magazine, The Economist, Psychology Today and numerous other mainstream magazines, undertook this study of the pervasiveness of pornography in modern American […]
March 23-25 Wheelock College Boston, MA The so-called “porn wars” that were fought over the feminist critique of contemporary mass-marketed pornography derailed important academic and activist work. It is time to move on by reframing our thinking on pornography, especially in light of the important changes that have occurred in both technology and pop culture […]