FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2009
CONTACT: LL Dovey, lldovey@professionaloutdoormedia.org, 814-539-6030
JOHNSTOWN, PA. - The Professional Outdoor Media Association, a professional organization of traditional outdoor sports journalists and hunting and fishing industry professionals and organizations will participate in an audio news briefing today, September 24 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
POMA will discuss a case in which the government is asking the Supreme Court for the power to censor hunting and fishing imagery, creating a new exception to the First Amendment for the first time in 25 years.
At issue in U.S. v. Stevens, No. 08-769, is a 1999 federal law that makes it a crime to create, sell or possess videos and other depictions of cruelty to animals. The case arose over the conviction of a Virginia man, Robert Stevens, who received a three-year prison sentence from a Pennsylvania court for selling videos that included scenes of hunting with dogs. The Justices will hear arguments in the case on Tuesday, October 6.
In addition to working with the Washington, D.C., Jones Day Law Firm to file a brief on behalf of its members, Laurie Lee Dovey, POMA's executive director, coordinated a larger group of amici from a wide range of constituencies.
The American Society of Media Photographers, North American Nature Photographers, Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, Texas Outdoor Writers Association and more than 600 individual journalists, outdoor industry professionals and sportsmen joined POMA's brief.
POMA members, such as the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and others filed individual briefs on behalf of their members.
The speakers at the audio news conference are:
- David Horowitz, Executive Director, Media Coalition
- Laurie Lee Dovey, Executive Director, Professional Outdoor Media Association
- Joan Bertin, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship
- Chris Finan, President, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
- Doug Burdin, Litigation Counsel, Safari Club International
RSVP for the call, please contact Kai-Ming Cha at (212) 587-4025, ext.12 or kai-ming@mediacoalition.org.
POMA Mission ... The Professional Outdoor Media Association is a group of individual communicators and Corporate Partners who believe in, defend, support and promote the heritage of hunting, fishing, shooting and traditional outdoor sports through writing, photography and other means. By doing so, members hope to educate the general public about these sports and encourage more participation in them. The organization serves the membership by helping members grow professionally, improve their skills, better their working environments and enhance their businesses. |
