St. Louis Magazine
The May issue of St. Louis Magazine is no longer banned by the Missouri Department of Corrections, St. Louis Magazine senior editor William Powell told Poynter in an email.
The department banned St. Louis’ May issue, which had a Powell story about the death penalty, saying it contained “content which contains information which can be used to instill violence or hatred among the offender population.”
In that story, called “How We Kill,” Powell witnesses an execution by lethal injection and writes about Missouri’s use of the death penalty.
The magazine successfully appealed the decision, Powell wrote on St. Louis Magazine’s site Thursday.
We appealed that decision to Dave Dormire, the state’s director of the Division of Adult Institutions, and in a letter that we received Thursday, he sided with the magazine. “I agree that the article itself does not cause concerns that are likely to cause violence; however, I also understand the institution’s hesitance to allow the article,” Dormire wrote. “The institution will be advised to give this publication to the intended offenders.”
On Tuesday, Poynter wrote that the March issue of Entrepreneur magazine was also banned, though Mark J. Tavarozzi, vice president of consumer marketing with Entrepreneur Media, told Poynter he had no idea why.
“I looked through it again and can’t come up with anything,” he wrote. “Though I don’t have the mind of a censor.”
On May 15, Poynter reported that several news organizations in Missouri are suing the Missouri Department of Corrections for secrecy around lethal injection drugs.
