One of the most interesting policy issues to appear on the political landscape over the past several years is the debate over warning labels on records and tapes. The issue of warning labels is a fascinating study of First Amendment freedom that has focused public opinion around two very different and often conflicting policy options. The first option is what Ithiel de Sola Pool terms a policy of freedom, one that places the emphasis on the rights of the individual over the rights of the state. The second option is what could be termed a policy of justified control, one that emphasizes the values of community and stability over that of individual liberty, viewing freedom of expression as part of a broader constellation of interests that must be balanced in response to the needs of society as a whole. (p. 355)

The warning labels debate also has implications for a larger issue concerning a growing pattern of censorship of artistic expression, illustrated by recent controversies in the arts such as the Motion Picture Association's revision of its movie rating system, the recent battle over the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) reauthorization legislation (prompted in part by the barrage of criticism hurled at two NEA-sponsored exhibitions featuring the photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine by Andres Serrano and the homoerotic works of the late Robert Mapplethorpe). In short, the debate over warning labels, juxtaposed with other similar and concurrent controversies, form what could be called a New School for Scandal, exhibiting many themes in common with previous scandals over the level of decency found in the content of broadcasting and with the whole history of earlier forms of censorship of books, magazines and films.

How then can we begin to discuss differing policy positions surrounding the labeling issue that will inform the larger discussion of censorship of artistic material? One possible approach is to develop what de Sola Pool describes as a mapping sentence for labeling. This mapping sentence would consist of a brief statement of the problem derived from an examination of several topics including the definition of the domain or arena in which the policy operates; the establishment of norms and controls such as laws, regulations, and other formal and informal means such as voluntary industry codes and standards; the availability and organization of access to resources; and problems at the system boundaries, such as the blurring of areas where policy had failed to develop quickly enough to meet the needs of present conditions (in the case of labeling, for example, the disputed areas surrounding First Amendment theory, particularly that concerning individual artistic expression).

Given this framework, the question then becomes whether record labeling, as part of a new crop of artistic censorship controversies, indicates an overall shift toward a policy position of increased societal control versus a policy position that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of the individual. In the words of First Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus, We are definitely in the middle of an anti-obscenity boom...and when you have a racheting up of obscenity prosecution in one area of the arts, you have a racheting up in other areas, too. The mapping of record labeling policy is an attempt to better understand this trend as well as a beginning effort in charting its course. (p. 355, 356)

CONTENTS
Warning Labels and the Recording Industry: History of the Problem.
Labeling legislation - Onto the States and Into the Courts.
Norms and Controls: Protected and Nonprotected Expression.
The Challenge to Labeling: The difficulty of defining controls.
The difficulty of establishing norms.
Conclusion.
Notes.

One of the most interesting policy issues to appear on the political landscape over the past several years is the debate over warning labels on records and tapes. The issue of warning labels is a fascinating study of First Amendment freedom that has focused public opinion around two very different and often conflicting policy options. The first option is what Ithiel de Sola Pool terms a policy of freedom, one that places the emphasis on the rights of the individual over the rights of the state. The second option is what could be termed a policy of justified control, one that emphasizes the values of community and stability over that of individual liberty, viewing freedom of expression as part of a broader constellation of interests that must be balanced in response to the needs of society as a whole. (p. 355)