Tennessee sees surge in books banned in public schools. Here's which ones and why
Nearly 1,400 books, consisting of 1,155 unique titles, were either fully removed from school libraries or heavily age-restricted between December 2023 and January.
Classic titles like 'The Color Purple" by Alice Walker, 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card, 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut and other titles joined the growing list of books banned in schools across the state as school administrators try to comply with the new law.
Between 2021 and July 2023, only about 300 books faced similar challenges across the state. Now, in less than half that time, at least 1,389 books were found to be removed or heavily age-restricted statewide over the past year.
This count does not include books pulled from shelves that are currently under review, of which there are hundreds across the state.
The removals are part of sweeping and often chaotic attempts by districts to comply with the Age Appropriate Materials Act, which requires each public school library in the state to publish a list of materials in their collections and periodically review them to make sure they are 'appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials,' and to remove materials that do not meet the numerous parameters listed in the law.
The law is one of a slew of similar laws that have been passed in the state over the past three years, which have expanded the definitions of book violations under the law and added civil penalties against schools and criminal penalties for book publishers and distributors if they are found to provide books in schools that violate the law.
Twenty-one counties either did not respond to multiple records requests in time for publication, or do not having sufficient means to provide such data.
The top three counties with the highest number of removed books are:
Monroe County: 574
Wilson County: 425
Roane County: 138
Not all of these removals are due to public complaints, either, as schools are now required to periodically review and remove books internally due to potential content violations. For example, Monroe County Schools, which reported the highest number of book removals with 574 titles, removed all of these books in an effort to comply with the law before any complaints were filed against them.
The total number of books removed is likely far higher, as well, as some counties do not keep explicit records of books removed from libraries due to content issues, as long as the books are pulled internally by staff members prior to any public complaints.
For example, in Blount and Moore counties, books that are removed from libraries due to potential content violations, prior to complaints, are not separated from books removed due to normal wear and tear, making it nearly impossible to track the number of books preemptively removed from libraries due to content reasons.
The stark jump in book removals mimic national trends tracked by PEN America, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on free expression and literary access.
Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America, said the organization tracked over 10,000 book removals over 29 states and 200 public school districts during the 2023-2024 school year — a record high in the four years the organization has tracked such activity.
Still, Meehan said, this number is likely an 'under-count' of the true number of removals, due to the complex laws placed on school administrators across the country resulting in each school district handling the removal process differently and making the removals nearly impossible to track.
'We call it like 'soft censorship,'' she said. 'The idea is that materials are being removed or limited or never purchased at all, without there being a formal challenge, despite a book potentially being a good book that would serve a community.'
This soft censorship is even labeled as an emerging trend in PEN America's 2024 Banned in the USA report, including instances in Texas and California where entire libraries were closed in order to have collections audited rather than face complaints.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director at the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the rise in 'soft censorship' is often a result of librarians and school administrators seeking to protect themselves from increasingly harsh punishments and public controversy.
'This culture of fear that they're creating around this issue certainly is contributing to some librarians' decisions to either not order particular books or remove books that are on the shelf to so that they don't risk their jobs or risk a controversy that could cost them their jobs,' she said.
Meehan said removing books for potentially being inappropriate only results in limiting access to literature that is already vetted under states' obscenity laws.
'We can very directly debunk the idea that there is porn in schools, or that there is obscene materials in schools,' she said. 'I think that people are taking issue with certain types of representation and certain types of content. There have always been sensible systems in place for parents to be engaging with educators and administrators and librarians in their district about what their student is reading. But what we see happening, you know, at a large scale, is the viewpoint of one or some impacting what's accessible for all.'
The full list of counties that removed or restricted books are:
Cannon County: 3
Franklin County: 58
Hardin County: 1
Knox County: 48
Lincoln County: 5
Macon: 73
Monroe: 574
Putnam: 2
Roane: 138
Rutherford: 49
Trousdale: 7
Williamson: 5
Wilson: 445
The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee banned books: See list from Tennessee public schools in 2024
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Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
Outside the Diddy Trial, a New Media Guard Rules
Every weekday around 3 p.m. local time at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, a frenzy begins. Following hours of sensational testimony and evidence in the sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of hip-hop and fashion mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs — whose nosedive as a cultural icon after three decades of success seems to sink him further from those heights as new victims take the stand to implicate and denounce him — you'll spot the first trickle of media types, supporters and everyday folks stepping out of the rear entrance at Manhattan federal court. Some are frantically typing on their just-returned smartphones (which are contraband inside the building), instantly relaying the lurid details from the day's testimony; others make a beeline to catch the uptown 6 train beneath nearby City Hall to a midtown newsroom. After watching hour upon hour of often harrowing allegations of forced sex, battery of women, coercion, gaslighting and emotional cruelty by a romantic partner, which the women named as Combs' victims have delivered nearly every weekday for five weeks, some of the people exiting the courthouse, with no newsroom or editor to speak of, quickly attach their phones to tripods or selfie sticks to spill the courtroom tea du jour online. Soon, a black van is spotted pulling up to 500 Pearl Street, and it's time to race around to the front of the courthouse to capture the afternoon's most valuable moment. More from The Hollywood Reporter Stray Kids' Seungmin Is Burberry's Newest Brand Ambassador K-pop Star Bain is Ready to Open a New Chapter Following Historic Coming Out: "I Can Finally Be Free" G-Dragon Is Headed to North America and Europe for World Tour Here, a scrum of livestreamers, YouTubers and TikTok influencers coalesce to snag footage of the Combs' family leaving court. Janice Combs, the defendant's mother, who, after his father was killed, raised him 30 miles north of the courthouse, is the most sought-after photo subject as she attends the trial daily. A moment of chaos erupts when Janice, 83, exits the court and walks the 20 feet to a vehicle that's just arrived. 'Janice! I'd drink your bathwater!' one young livestreamer yells out a few weeks into the trial (he was referencing dialogue from The Color Purple, he tells me later). Janice's popularity during this trial is followed by that of her grandsons, King and Justin Dior Combs, who both make for big moments for the livestreaming set — or for their viewers, rather, as hundreds, or for some thousands, are watching and commenting in real time, fueling the online Diddy media industrial complex. It's a classic media frenzy moment, but these are not typical media professionals. The livestreamers have stepped into the Diddy trial beat for the past eight weeks, bringing a wide range of voices as they discuss the legal case and defendant's unlikely life story. It could come with a trigger warning: 'Not only will there be discussions of domestic violence and emotional abuse, while creating content, you might fall down a rabbit hole leading to unfounded comparisons to Jeffrey Epstein and the collection of kompromat, wild speculation about every celebrity who's met the rapper and, in turn, link already unfounded rumors to QAnon.' All of this and more has already happened online amid the explosion of Diddy-related video content that came after Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura filed her civil suit against Combs and again after his arrest. Sure, not all of the new media creators and livestreamers are guilty of creating any of this dangerous clickbait, but they stand outside the courthouse in its context and the wild possibilities of revelations at his trial that are now butting up against the the reality of this case. The trial's livestreaming players each come with a unique delivery style that's less polished or familiar, and rife with the slang du jour. Among this gang of street journalists are the sometimes frantic and frazzled but, more often than not, sharp and informative explainers like YouTuber Tisa Tells; the conspiratorial voice of FamerTube; the comedy trial coverage of first-timer Sam Croupen, who has a 510,000 followers and a growing TikTok fanbase; and the wildly popular Rotten Mango, aka true crime podcaster Stephanie Soo, who has taken up the Diddy trial and is running with it so successfully she overtook Joe Rogan as the top podcaster on YouTube. This trial and the non-professionals covering it have been commanding the eyes and ears of so many that the old guard is even playing nice, at least anecdotally. 'The way the mainstream has treated influencers has changed so much,' said Brianna Logan, who told The Hollywood Reporter she is in New York after crowdsourcing funds and has covered several big trials for her Instagram account. 'When I was covering Ghislane Maxwell, it was so disrespectful the way I was treated. Like, 'Give me that seat! I want to sit there,' and they're like, 'Oh, cute. You're on Instagram.' They're so much more respectful now. It's different. I think they have to acknowledge that their numbers are down. Social media numbers are up — there's no denying that. And it's probably good of them to admit there is a change happening.' Behind us, across from Pearl Street and distanced from this new media gaggle, stands the media's old guard, firmly set up with expensive cameras and weather-protective canopies in a neat row on the west side of Columbus Park. Hair and makeup are on point. But it's unclear if these camera-ready reporters are actually inside watching the trial unfold each day before their stand-up live shot. This may not matter because legacy media outlets have an entire apparatus moving information from the courtroom that is fodder for live blogs and published in near-real-time — giving a detailed rundown of testimony, feds vs. defense courtroom tension, Combs' silent antics with the jury and Judge Arun Subramanian's shifting mood. What all of this costs the networks and cable news outlets is surely sizable; what's produced is beholden to the many limitations or traditions of TV news: outmoded news segment formats, restrictive standards. red tape and, often, middle-of-the-road story selection. The result? Legacy media isn't getting the full Diddy trial story as some of it unfolds right in front of their poised cameras. The contrast between these two groups of media figures — all parties being content creators, after all — and their proximity to the court when it lets out at 3 p.m. feels too on the nose. With online news' pivot to video nearly a decade ago and the TikTok and influencer era that followed, impactful on-camera reporting has shifted away from the stoic, as-neutral-as-possible, serious journalist to the selfie-style-shooting, personable, quirky novice who caters to an audience of their own creation. On any given weekday outside Combs' trial, content creators and livestreamers shout rundowns and takes to their followers, some even fielding legal questions. The problem for many is that these livestreams are often unpolished and, at times, messy, with cringe-inducing errors, admissions of having 'no idea what I'm talking about.' This has always been an uncomfortable fact around the democratization of media and the rise of individual voices as news sources on social media, Substack, YouTube and the rest. With the backbone of a news report, namely fact checking and sourcing, jettisoned in favor of trust cultivated by personality-driven influencers and popular takes, will the truth slip out of the old idea of journalism and holding truth to power? This slippage is occurring amid some upsetting trends for the old guard and great news for digital platforms. According to the Pew Research Center, 86 percent of Americans turn to digital devices for news, with two-thirds using news websites and apps and around half getting news directly from social media channels. Meanwhile, 23 percent say they prefer to get their news from apps and websites, but those who prefer social media news rose 6 to 18 percent. This is deeply relevant to this moment and the Combs' narrative and trial, which comes 30 years after television and cameras in the courtroom rattled the O.J. Simpson trial, which may have affected public opinion and contributed to the case exposing deep national divides along race. The influencers and livestreamers may not have such an impact here, but the size and diversity among the audiences they command can mobilize and shouldn't be ignored. 'You get so many passionate people telling stories and creating content in different ways,' creator Emilie Hagen told THR outside the federal court. 'You have people that are sleeping outside as a career right now, just aiding the culture of Diddy. It shows what he built, and it shows why the stakes are so high.' Hagen, one of several one-woman producer-hosts milling about the courthouse perimeter each day, also dabbles in comedy, written journalism and ghostwriting. 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She was the first to nail down the story behind a group of seemingly unhoused and potentially high men and women donning 'Free Diddy' T-shirts who had gathered in Columbus Park. What looked like a semi-transparent orchestrated pro-Combs protest turned out to be a promotion for Diddycoin, a cryptocurrency launched by two of Combs' sons. That this stunt took place feet from the cameras owned by the networks and was missed but exposed by a roving livestreamer speaks more than that the story was confronted by a tenacious reporter. Hagen has also revealed, by simply walking over, phone extended and asking for an interview, the identity and firsthand account of the woman who was dragged from the courtroom after running to the front of the gallery and yelling to Combs; mainstream outlets largely referred to Jacqueline 'Candor' Williams as an 'unidentified woman;' and when West arrived in court, Hagen was kind enough to provide THR with some of the details of his visit. 'These characters are as much a part of the trial, I think, as the people inside,' Hagen said, referring not only to the estimated two dozen livestreamers documenting the trial's major revelations and its strange fringes, but also everyone in the spectacle: the angry man who arrives daily to rant at the crowd, the man who turned up in Renaissance-era garb, the revelers and the Diddy truthers. Some of the livestreaming new guard feel an ownership of the Diddy story that the mainstream media hasn't earned — or forfeited by not covering Ventura's 2023 civil suit against Combs. They watched as interest from the networks and other mainstream outlets grew after Combs' quick settlement out of court came the next day. They noticed as Combs' legal woes became a hot story and then possible RICO case. The interest outside of streaming gradually grew with civil lawsuits and complaints, and then exploded with a salacious civil case in February 2024 from producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones. 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I have a video [from then] with 650,000 views talking about Diddy — we're the ones who really amplified this. The mainstream media is playing catch-up, and we always said that we weren't gonna let mainstream media take authority over something that we did the work to investigate.' Donat's coverage of the Combs' trial — personality-driven, entertaining (if unpolished), informed but not always correct, deeply engaged with its audience — encapsulates the advantages and pitfalls of the imperfect medium. Influencer content and livestreaming's continuous audience-gobbling from the mainstream's old guard is not an 'if' question but one of 'how much' on quarterly damage assessments amid shrinking resources for newsrooms. As for the persistent pitfalls of the one-person newsroom — no fact-checking, no logistics, no security or crisis training and just too much information for one person to process and deliver — it seems that some of the deeper and most problematic issues of this encroachment will go unaddressed, at least for now. 'I think people are trying to uncover something big,' Hagen said about her coverage. 'I'm trying to capture a moment in culture, emotionally. Traditional media can't really explore that. CNN can't be talking about their emotions. They just have to stick to the facts.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Yahoo
Tennessee sees surge in books banned in public schools. Here's which ones and why
At least 13 Tennessee counties saw books removed from public school library shelves over the past year, marking the highest number of book removals the state has seen since the passage of the Age Appropriate Materials Act in 2022. Nearly 1,400 books, consisting of 1,155 unique titles, were either fully removed from school libraries or heavily age-restricted between December 2023 and January. Classic titles like 'The Color Purple" by Alice Walker, 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card, 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut and other titles joined the growing list of books banned in schools across the state as school administrators try to comply with the new law. Between 2021 and July 2023, only about 300 books faced similar challenges across the state. Now, in less than half that time, at least 1,389 books were found to be removed or heavily age-restricted statewide over the past year. This count does not include books pulled from shelves that are currently under review, of which there are hundreds across the state. The removals are part of sweeping and often chaotic attempts by districts to comply with the Age Appropriate Materials Act, which requires each public school library in the state to publish a list of materials in their collections and periodically review them to make sure they are 'appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials,' and to remove materials that do not meet the numerous parameters listed in the law. The law is one of a slew of similar laws that have been passed in the state over the past three years, which have expanded the definitions of book violations under the law and added civil penalties against schools and criminal penalties for book publishers and distributors if they are found to provide books in schools that violate the law. Twenty-one counties either did not respond to multiple records requests in time for publication, or do not having sufficient means to provide such data. The top three counties with the highest number of removed books are: Monroe County: 574 Wilson County: 425 Roane County: 138 Not all of these removals are due to public complaints, either, as schools are now required to periodically review and remove books internally due to potential content violations. For example, Monroe County Schools, which reported the highest number of book removals with 574 titles, removed all of these books in an effort to comply with the law before any complaints were filed against them. The total number of books removed is likely far higher, as well, as some counties do not keep explicit records of books removed from libraries due to content issues, as long as the books are pulled internally by staff members prior to any public complaints. For example, in Blount and Moore counties, books that are removed from libraries due to potential content violations, prior to complaints, are not separated from books removed due to normal wear and tear, making it nearly impossible to track the number of books preemptively removed from libraries due to content reasons. The stark jump in book removals mimic national trends tracked by PEN America, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on free expression and literary access. Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America, said the organization tracked over 10,000 book removals over 29 states and 200 public school districts during the 2023-2024 school year — a record high in the four years the organization has tracked such activity. Still, Meehan said, this number is likely an 'under-count' of the true number of removals, due to the complex laws placed on school administrators across the country resulting in each school district handling the removal process differently and making the removals nearly impossible to track. 'We call it like 'soft censorship,'' she said. 'The idea is that materials are being removed or limited or never purchased at all, without there being a formal challenge, despite a book potentially being a good book that would serve a community.' This soft censorship is even labeled as an emerging trend in PEN America's 2024 Banned in the USA report, including instances in Texas and California where entire libraries were closed in order to have collections audited rather than face complaints. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director at the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the rise in 'soft censorship' is often a result of librarians and school administrators seeking to protect themselves from increasingly harsh punishments and public controversy. 'This culture of fear that they're creating around this issue certainly is contributing to some librarians' decisions to either not order particular books or remove books that are on the shelf to so that they don't risk their jobs or risk a controversy that could cost them their jobs,' she said. Meehan said removing books for potentially being inappropriate only results in limiting access to literature that is already vetted under states' obscenity laws. 'We can very directly debunk the idea that there is porn in schools, or that there is obscene materials in schools,' she said. 'I think that people are taking issue with certain types of representation and certain types of content. There have always been sensible systems in place for parents to be engaging with educators and administrators and librarians in their district about what their student is reading. But what we see happening, you know, at a large scale, is the viewpoint of one or some impacting what's accessible for all.' The full list of counties that removed or restricted books are: Cannon County: 3 Franklin County: 58 Hardin County: 1 Knox County: 48 Lincoln County: 5 Macon: 73 Monroe: 574 Putnam: 2 Roane: 138 Rutherford: 49 Trousdale: 7 Williamson: 5 Wilson: 445 The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@ by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee banned books: See list from Tennessee public schools in 2024
USA Today
31-01-2025
- USA Today
As ICE rumors and reports swirl, what are you doing about it?
As ICE rumors and reports swirl, what are you doing about it? | Opinion This week, our neighbors are being taken from their workplaces. Not in another state, not in a distant city — right here, on our streets, in our neighborhoods, where people live, work, and build their lives. ICE agents are in Tallahassee. Reports are spreading across social media and through text messages that they are targeting workplaces and rounding up undocumented community members. Let's be clear: Immigrants and migrant people are the backbone of this country. Every major industry depends on their labor. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2022 alone, undocumented workers contributed nearly $100 billion in federal, state, and local taxes—paying into benefits they will never even receive. They are arrested for violent crimes at less than half the rate of native-born Americans. And there is no proof that deportation reduces crime. Immigrants are so much more than just labor—they bring culture, history, and love. They are our friends, our partners, our neighbors, and an essential part of our communities. Yet today, they are being vilified and scapegoated as a tool for authoritarian propaganda. Right now, a violent system built to target and remove entire communities is escalating. Laws may change depending on who is in power. What does not change is our humanity and our moral responsibility to one another. Your deference to law enforcement, your benefit of the doubt for public officials, your silence—these are all choices. Novelist Alice Walker reminds us, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." You are only powerless if you choose to do nothing. So what can you do? Support the groups doing the work. Organizations like the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) are leading the fight here locally. They organize rallies, share safety information, and connect our community to national efforts. Even a $10 monthly donation helps sustain their work. Talk to your immigrant friends and neighbors. This can feel awkward if you don't have a close relationship, so start by signaling your support — yard signs, buttons, or posters in your office identifying you as a safe person. If you speak directly, use neutral language like, 'I read about ways to help and wanted to share what I learned. Do you think anyone at work might benefit from safety planning?' Let them decide if they want to engage. Your role is to show support, not force it, but be ready and informed on ways to connect them with trusted resources. Make your workplace, school, shelter, or community space a safe zone. Visit the National Immigrant Justice Center (Home | National Immigrant Justice Center) for 'Know Your Rights' materials. Post them in visible areas. ICE should not be allowed in without a warrant—educate others on how to push back. More: Leon County School Board meeting tackles community concerns on ICE raids, grant funding More: FHP assists Homeland Security in Jefferson County illegal immigration raid; 12 detained More: National immigration debate comes to Leon County; protest at commission meeting Hold city and county officials accountable. Show up to civic meetings. Call, email, and demand to know what they are doing to keep our community members safe. Be explicit with what you want to see them do. Demand Tallahassee becomes a sanctuary city for our undocumented community members. Tallahassee, this is our moment. ICE is here, and people are being taken. Will you be powerless or powerful? Taylor Biro is a social worker, community activist and third-generation immigrant. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Send letters to the editor (up to 200 words) or Your Turn columns (about 500 words) to letters@ Please include your address for verification purposes only, and if you send a Your Turn, also include a photo and 1-2 line bio of yourself. You can also submit anonymous Zing!s at Submissions are published on a space-available basis. All submissions may be edited for content, clarity and length, and may also be published by any part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.
