FROM INDEX ON CENSORSHIP MAGAZINE
Global view: Who has freedom of expression?
Freedom of expression is a universal, fundamental human right. But who actually has access to free expression? Index CEO Kirsty Hughes looks at the evidence.
(Index on Censorship)
The multipolar challenge to free expression
As emerging markets command influence on the international stage, Saul Estrin and Kirsty Hughes look at the impact on economics, politics and human rights.
(Index on Censorship)
News in monochrome: Journalism in India
The media’s infatuation with a single narrative is drowning out the country’s diversity, giving way to sensationalist reporting and “paid for” news. But, says Bharat Bhushan, moves towards regulation could have a chilling effect too
(Index on Censorship)
Censorship: The problem child of Burma’s dictatorship
Writer and artist Htoo Lyin Myo gives his personal account of working under government censorship in Burma
(Index on Censorship)
BAHRAIN
Media bias cost Bahrain millions
BAHRAIN has lost millions of dinars paying public relations companies as it tries to combat negative reporting in the international media, according to a leading human rights activist.
(Gulf Daily News)
Bahrain Salafist society wants concerts cancelled
A Salafist society in Bahrain has called for the cancellation of the annual summer festival in respect of the Arabs and Muslims suffering in several countries.
(Gulf News)
GHANA
Contempt of Court: It’s a ghost of Ghana’s common law system – Lawyer
A Senior Lecturer of the Ghana School of Law, Opoku Agyemang, has called for a critical analysis of contempt of court and freedom of speech.
(Ghana Web)
Supreme Court Did Nothing Wrong In Sentencing Ken Kuranchie
Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency under the erstwhile Prof Mills government, Dr Tony Aidoo, has waded into the public discussion of the jail sentence meted out to Stephen Atubiga and Ken Kuranchie by the Supreme Court over contemptuous comments saying it is about time media practitioners and commentators respect institutions of authority and obey the laws of the country.
(Asia Society)
INDIA
Who Has the Right to Offend in South Asia?
The past few months in India and around Asia have seen films, books, art and academics become targets of censorship, involving harassment, legal action and even threats of violence.
(Peace FM)
JAMAICA
Senate Begins Debate on Defamation Bill
The Senate, on July 5, commenced debate on a Bill entitled: ‘An Act to Repeal the Defamation Act and Libel and Slander Act’, also known as the Defamation Bill, during its sitting at Gordon House, downtown Kingston.
(Jamaica Information Service)
Punish Deejays For Gangsta Lyrics
Some of the worst examples of sloppy thinking, non-sequitur reasoning, and nonsense masquerading as commentary, as well as plain hysteria and myopia, have been manifested in this discussion on the anti-gang legislation as it concerns gangster lyrics.
(Jamaica Gleaner)
Time To Unleash Press Watchdog
The presentation in the Senate by de facto Information Minister Sandrea Falconer last week on a bill titled ‘An Act to Repeal the Defamation Act and Libel and Slander Act’, also known as the defamation bill, and her urging the media to establish their own self-regulatory body adds to the voices who are keen on these developments.
(Jamaica Gleaner)
PAKISTAN
Youtube and internet freedom
Should the judicial hammer protect personal freedoms or religious sensitivities?
(Pakistan Today)
TUNISIA
Tunisia actors may face ‘indecency’ charges
Tunisia’s public prosecutor is due to question 19 actors who were attacked by radical Salafist Muslims for alleged “indecent” behaviour, their lawyer told AFP on Sunday.
(AFP)
TURKEY
Turkey’s stance on Egypt coup ‘shows its democratic maturity’
The fact that all Turkey’s political parties have criticized the military coup in Egypt is a strong indicator of the country’s democratic maturity, according to an academic expert. ‘This tells us that if something similar happened here, it wouldn’t be tolerated,’ says Professor Mensur Akgün of Istanbul’s Kültür University
(Hürriyet Daily News)
Turkey rejects call to censor media coverage of gay pride as ‘pornographic’
Turkey’s media regulator has rejected a demand by influential Turkish charities to censor coverage of LGBT events in the country’s media.
(LGBTQ Nation)
UNITED KINGDOM
Banning the term ‘gay’ is an insult to free speech
Michael Gove, the impressive Secretary of State for Education, has just decreed that the term “gay” cannot be used as an insult. It’s “outrageous and medieval” to do so.
(The Telegraph)
Top cops probe councillors to try to find sources of Sunday Mail reports that embarrassed police chiefs
POLITICIANS, free speech campaigners and media experts condemn detectives’ investigation after we revealed allegations of bullying and misconduct by senior officers.
(Daily Record)
UNITED STATES
Social media free speech rights complicated for workers
An anonymous “Suzy Citizen” leaves fliers criticizing management in a public area of the St. Cloud Public Library, and the Great River Regional Library board of trustees hires an investigator to find out if an employee is the culprit.
(USA Today)
Understand free speech before crying wolf
Some folks have strange ideas about the First Amendment. Funny thing, that, since it’s mainly those of teabag persuasion that misunderstand, while claiming to channel the founding fathers every time they do ope their ruby lips; political versions of our own J.Z. Knight and her remunerative relic, Ramtha.
(The Herald)
VIETNAM
Vietnam Censors Give Songwriter Ngoc Dai “Free Advertising”
Arguably Vietnam’s most controversial songwriter, Ngoc Dai, has been featured regularly in the Vietnamese press over the last few weeks after releasing a new album without official permission.
(The Diplomat)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
July 5 | July 4 | July 3 | July 2 | July 1 | June 28 | June 27 | June 26 | June 25 | June 24
