Morality in Media

Morality in Media, Inc. (MIM) is an American non-profit organization that was established in New York in 1962. MIM seeks to raise awareness about the harms of pornography and other forms of obscenity on individuals, families and society. MIM also works through constitutional means to curb traffic in obscenity and uphold standards of decency in media. The president is Patrick A. Trueman.^[1]

Founding

MIM was launched by an interfaith group of clergy in the Upper Eastside of Manhattan (NYC) in 1962 after grade school children were caught with hardcore pornography. MIM was first formed by Father Morton A. Hill, Rabbi Julius Neumann, and Rev. Robert Wiltenburg (a Lutheran pastor) as a neighborhood organization under the name Operation Yorkville.^[2] They were soon joined by Rev. Constantine Volaitis of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Hill-Link minority report

In 1968, Father Hill, a president of MIM until death in 1985, was appointed to serve on the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography by President Lyndon B. Johnson. A report was submitted in 1970 that said all "adult" obscenity laws should be repealed. Fr. Hill co-authored a minority report describing the Commission's report as a "Magna Carta for the pornographers"[1] with another Commission member, Dr. Winfrey Link. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the Hill-Link minority report in upholding obscenity laws in 1973.

Activities

MIM's current campaigns include:

• The Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography - a bi-partisan coalition of more than 115 national, state and local groups.
• Pornography Harms
• The Safe Library Project
• Close "The Playboy Club" on NBC
• Be Aware: PORN HARMS National Awareness Campaign
• White Ribbon Against Pornography week.^[3]

Funding

Annual U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) grants of $150,000 in the 2005 and 2006 federal budgets funded MIM's review of citizen-generated obscenity complaints submitted to MIM's ObscenityCrimes.org website. 67,000 of the complaints deemed legitimate under the program had resulted in no obscenity prosecutions as of August 2007. The grants were created by Congressional earmarks by U.S. Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia,^[4] and awarded through the DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs.^[5]

References

1. ^ About Morality in Media at MIM site.
2. ^ Fr. Morton A. Hill, S.J.: Defender of the Public Decencies at the Morality in Media website.
3. ^ White Ribbon Against Pornography week at MIM site.
4. ^ Lewis, Neil A. Federal Effort on Web Obscenity Shows Few Results New York Times, via nytimes.com, 2007-08-10. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
5. ^ ObscenityCrimes.org (Nonprofit website). ObscenityCrimes.org, Morality in Media, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.

External links

• Morality in Media Homepage
• [2]
• [3]