The decision by six authors to withdraw from a PEN American Center gala in which Charlie Hebdo will be honoured with an award once again emphasises the dangerous notion that some forms of free expression are more worthy than others of defending
CATEGORY: United Kingdom
Padraig Reidy: War on truthiness
Journalism should, at least, be against truthiness, if only out of self interest. If anyone can make stuff up and get 1,000 shares on Twitter, why pay people for deep digging or elegant writing?
Judith Vidal-Hall: Taking on the giant
When a group of claimants in the UK took on Google for invasion of privacy, they had little idea that the case would become a landmark in the fight to tame the internet giant’s intrusion into our lives on the web
Padraig Reidy: The “gay cake” case bedevils Northern Ireland
A new struggle has emerged over what many religious people in Northern Ireland see as threats to their religious freedom and way of life. And a cake has become the latest flashpoint
#IndexDrawtheLine: Does extremism have a place on campus?
After strong lobbying from senior Tory peers, two private members’ debating student societies from Oxford and Cambridge universities were exempted...
Padraig Reidy: Doubting Cambridge University Press’s commitment to academic freedom
CUP are still refusing to publish Putin’s Kleptocracy by Karen Dawisha for fear of libel action — despite saying they have no reason to doubt the veracity of the work
Padraig Reidy: George Galloway’s dear tweeter letters
TV presenter George Galloway has taken to wearing a black fedora, indoors. I know this, because I have seen him doing so on at least one of his TV shows
Padraig Reidy: There is not a limited amount of free speech to go round
There is, I am told, a war going on in feminism. A war between “intersectionalists” (I think) and TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists, as far as I can tell).
Padraig Reidy: We can’t allow responsibilities to come before rights
The fact that people are being murdered for who they are rather than what they did should make us realise that there is no responsibility we can exercise that will mitigate the core problem
#IndexAwards2015: Journalism nominee Safa Al Ahmad
Safa Al Ahmad is a Saudi journalist and documentary maker who has spent the last three years covertly filming an unreported mass uprising in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.