Today is Nelson Mandela International Day, a day to remember Mandela’s achievements in democracy, human rights and peace. Holly Raiborn
Nelson Mandela International Day: Index remembers apartheid-era South Africa
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CATEGORY: Magazine
The power of print: a celebration of 250 issues of Index on Censorship magazine
"Censorship is as much with us as it ever was," said author, lawyer and early Index supporter Louis Blom-Cooper, in a speech to mark the 250th issue...
Moddi: Unsongs playlist of the banned, censored and silenced
Norwegian musician Moddi’s upcoming Unsongs compiles songs from across the world that have been banned. Index has put together a playlist of the songs included in the album
War reporter Marie Colvin’s family sues Syria
The family of murdered journalist and Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin has filed a lawsuit against the Syrian government
Marking the 250th issue: Contributors choose favourites from Index on Censorship archives
To mark the 250th issue of Index on Censorship magazine, we asked some of our contributors to nominate standout features from the publication’s long history
Survey: Are ad-blockers killing the media?
Spiegel Online’s managing editor Matthias Streitz and Privacy International technologist Richard Tynan go head to head to debate the rise of ad-blockers
Discussion: What are taboos and what role do they play in society?
Do taboos play an essential role in culture and society, or must we simply get rid of them? Index on Censorship magazine editor Rachael Jolley spoke on the topic at Fritt Ord headquarters
Podcast: Kenyan journalist forced into hiding after reporting the news
Yassin Juma is an extraordinary journalist, who has taken great personal risk to get the story of what is happening in the war that is being waged in Somalia against Al-Shabaab
Risky business: Journalists around the world under direct attack
The truth is in danger. Working with reporters and writers around the world, Index continually hears first-hand stories of the pressures of reporting, and of how journalists are too afraid to write or broadcast because of what might happen next.
Contents: Danger in truth, truth in danger
Index on Censorship has dedicated its milestone 250th issue to exploring the increasing threats to reporters worldwide. Its special report, Truth in Danger, Danger in Truth: Journalists Under Fire
A quarterly journal set up in 1972, Index on Censorship magazine has published oppressed writers and refused to be silenced across hundreds of issues.
The brainchild of the poet Stephen Spender, and translator Michael Scammell, the magazine’s very first issue included a never-before-published poem, written while serving a sentence in a labour camp, by the Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who went on to win a Nobel prize later that year.
The magazine continued to be a thorn in the side of Soviet censors, but its scope was far wider. From the beginning, Index declared its mission to stand up for free expression as a fundamental human right for people everywhere – it was particularly vocal in its coverage of the oppressive military regimes of southern Europe and Latin America but was also clear that freedom of expression was not only a problem in faraway dictatorships. The winter 1979 issue, for example, reported on a controversy in the United States in which the Public Broadcasting Service had heavily edited a documentary about racism in Britain and then gone to court attempting to prevent screenings of the original version. Learn more.