In an extract from her new book in the Manifestos for the 21st Century series, author Kamila Shamsie explores the reasons why Islam has become synonymous with offence There are moments in history when particular words seem to exert a magnetic...
In the first of a series of articles on protest and free speech, Guardian reporter Paul Lewis assesses the fallout from the death of Ian Tomlinson When campaigners wave placards, march, occupy buildings and shout, their methods are dismissed as...
Why are UK distributors refusing to handle The Jewel of Medina? It's time to raise an outcry says its author “Aren’t you scared?” I get asked this question all the time, most recently in the wake of the news that three radical extremist Muslim men...
The Burmese authorities are keeping tight control on coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, reports Nem Davies Burma's state-controlled media has neglected to report on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her ongoing trial, in stark contrast to the attention...
With the media in decline, we shouldn't assume that news journalism will survive No one –-- in particular nobody who’s paying attention to the work of Index on Censorship –-- doubts the dangers inherent in the deliberate suppression of information....
As the divide narrows between left and right in Britain, so too does the space for adversarial dialogue and free expression There used to be an inch of difference between the two main British political parties. But, as the Australian 1960s radical...
As reporters flee fighting in the Swat valley, Zubeida Mustafa reports on the conflict’s effect on Pakistan’s press “Journalists love the thrill of working in ‘conflict zones’ where they can cover events which change the course of history,” says...
A St Petersburg court has confirmed that the police raid on Gulag archive Memorial was illegal A small victory for historical justice was won in the courts of St Petersburg last week. In a final ruling on the police raid of the Memorial archives in...
The BBC Trust’s condemnation of Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has the potential to cause serious damage to the corporation’s international standing, says Jonathan Dimbleby The decision by the BBC Trust to censure the BBC’s Middle East editor for...
Is the Evening Standard headed for the same fate as Alexander Lebedev's under-resourced Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta? Andrei Soldatov reports As the new-look Evening Standard hits London’s streets, it will have come as a relief to the paper’s...