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COMMONWEALTH PRESS UNION MEDIA TRUST, London, UK
FIPP – THE WORLDWIDE MAGAZINE MEDIA ASSOCIATION, London, UK
INTER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION, Miami, USA
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING, Montevideo, Uruguay
INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE, Vienna, Austria
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS & NEWS PUBLISHERS, WAN-IFRA, Paris, France; Darmstadt, Germany
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE, Paris, France; Washington DC, USA.

Your Majesty

For more than three centuries since Britain abolished the last set of statutory controls on the press in 1695, the United Kingdom has been a consistent champion of the most crucial freedom of all – freedom of expression – and a beacon of liberty across the world.

Freedom of expression was central to the European Convention of Human Rights which Britain helped draft. It is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which the UK is a signatory. It is a core belief in the Commonwealth Charter which Britain inspired. Free speech and freedom of expression have throughout the 20th and 21st centuries therefore been at the core of Britain’s international commitments, of its leadership of the free world, and of its international reputation as a liberal democracy.

Yet all that is now in danger. No one should be in any doubt that the proposed Royal Charter which politicians are forcing Your Majesty to sign is, despite the camouflage, in reality a set of repressive statutory controls being imposed on the press against its will. That should not be the function of a Royal Charter.

Some will argue that it is just intended to establish a body to oversee an independent regulator. But by laying down rules about how that regulator must work and how the ethical Codes that bind the press should be written this toxic Charter brings Parliament for the first time ever to the heart of the newsroom. It breaches the fundamental principle that politicians must never get involved in editorial content regulation. And it lays the foundation for fully fledged statutory controls.

That will have a chilling impact on journalism throughout the United Kingdom – from the biggest national newspapers to the smallest local and regional papers and magazines in the four nations of your country – weakening democracy as a result.

But far more important to us is the impact of your actions across the globe. The world still follows Britain in so many areas. If the UK moves to control the press through the force of law then it will have a terrifying knock-on effect throughout the Commonwealth and much of the developing world where Britain has a key leadership role. The fact that this is being done by Royal Charter – an instrument traditionally used to grant rights, not to curtail them – will make that infinitely worse because of the respect in which You personally, and the Crown institutionally, are held throughout the world.

The actions of Britain’s Parliament will be used as an excuse by those who want to muzzle the press in their own country and stifle the free flow of information – and there are many governments who would love to do so. And it is your name, Your Majesty, that will regrettably be taken in vain. “If it is good enough for the Queen, it is good enough for us.”

Already we have seen the chill winds of what is happening in the UK in South Africa, Botswana and Sri Lanka. Many more will follow.

This issue is of huge importance for freedom of expression in the UK. It is important for Britain’s standing in the world. But above all it is important for the impact on countries not nearly so lucky as the many of us in Europe who until now have enjoyed fundamental freedoms.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting next month in Sri Lanka, the British Government – with The Prince of Wales as your representative – should be campaigning for the protection and expansion of free expression throughout the Commonwealth, not least in countries like Rwanda, Singapore and Sri Lanka itself, which persistently lag at the bottom of world press freedom indices alongside Syria and North Korea. Further, the British Government, which decriminalised defamation in 2009, should also take strong steps encouraging Commonwealth countries to repeal criminal defamation laws. But Britain will be in no position to do that if you have signed a Royal Charter which will be seized on by enemies of free speech everywhere eager to impose similar controls. Britain will have abrogated its rights and the world will be worse off for that.

We urge you, Ma’am, as the final guarantor of freedom of expression across the UK and your Commonwealth, not to sign this Charter.

Signed by the following members of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organisations:

COMMONWEALTH PRESS UNION MEDIA TRUST, London, UK;
FIPP – THE WORLDWIDE MAGAZINE MEDIA ASSOCIATION, London, UK;
INTER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION, Miami, USA;
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING, Montevideo,  Uruguay;
INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE, Vienna, Austria;
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS & NEWS PUBLISHERS,WAN-IFRA, Paris, France, Darmstadt, Germany;
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE, Paris, France, Washington DC, USA.

Free expression in the news

09 Aug 13 | In the News

#DONTSPYONME
Tell Europe’s leaders to stop mass surveillance #dontspyonme
Index on Censorship launches a petition calling on European Union Heads of Government to stop the US, UK and other governments from carrying out mass surveillance. We want to use public pressure to ensure Europe’s leaders put on the record their opposition to mass surveillance. They must place this issue firmly on the agenda for the next European Council Summit in October so action can be taken to stop this attack on the basic human right of free speech and privacy.
(Index on Censorship)

CHINA
Fault Lines Laid Bare in Hong Kong
To her supporters, Alpais Lam Wai-sze, an award-winning primary schoolteacher who shouted obscenities at the Hong Kong police last month over their handling of a street dispute between a pro-Chinese Communist Party group and an anti-Communist group, is a free-speech heroine.
(The New York Times)

GAZA
Gazans Use Satire to Bypass
Political Censorship
Cynical television presenters such as Egyptian Bassem Youssef may soon no longer appear on Palestinian television outlets as a result of the increased censorship imposed on local media. Yet, this same censorship has stood helpless with the spread of sarcastic literature and media published on social networking sites.
(Al Monitor)

MEXICO
Mexico: self-censorship for survival
Journalists in Mexico are increasingly publishing their articles anonymously. Attaching your name to a report, an article or a picture is an obligation and a right. But doing so in Mexico can cost journalists their jobs or their lives. The biggest danger facing reporters there is not being hit by a stray bullet. No, the main peril is being murdered in order to silence and censor the media.
(Radio Netherlands)

PAKISTAN
Pakistani artists challenging YouTube ban
YouTube is a source of entertainment and news for billions around the world, but Pakistanis have lost access to the video site for almost a year after clips of the controversial film “Innocence of Muslims” prompted a government ban.
(CNN)

SINGAPORE
Singapore: End ‘Scandalizing the Judiciary’ Prosecutions
Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers should cease using contempt of court charges to muzzle critics of the judiciary.
(HRW)

TURKEY
Singapore: End ‘Scandalizing the Judiciary’ Prosecutions
Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers should cease using contempt of court charges to muzzle critics of the judiciary.
(HRW)

UNITED STATES
The more nefarious US foreign policy, the more it relies on media complicity
Americans are shielded from the ugly consequences of US military power by our journalists’ self-censorship
(The Guardian)

National Park Service’s First Amendment Violations Covered Up by Hometown Paper
During the Saint Augustine Tea Party’s month-long saga of standing up for Free Speech, the Right of Assembly and the American way, the local print newspaper, The St Augustine Record, remained elusive and nowhere to be found.
(Examiner.com)

States take aim at sex-ad websites, but run into resistance
A two-word change proposed to one of the nation’s first online laws has triggered a battle between law enforcement and Internet libertarians.
(The Free Press)

Free expression in the news

05 Aug 13 | In the News

CHILE
Chilean Director Patricio Guzmán Slams TVN Censorship
Chilean television station TVN recently broadcast the Patricio Guzmán documentary “Nostalgia de la Luz”, which takes as main scenery the Atacama desert, shows the testimony of the relatives of some victims of the Pinochet regime and their quest for finding the missing corpses of those victims.
(I Love Chile)

CHINA
Wall Street Journal Hits the Great Chinese Firewall
Another major international website has hit the Great Chinese Firewall—this time it’s the Wall Street Journal’s Chinese language edition, and it’s a mystery as to why the site has been blocked.
(Epoch Times)

Wiki reboot: Chinese Wikipedia makes comeback after early censorship
A censorship blackout lost Chinese Wikipedia many of its users. Now a new generation of mainland volunteers is resuscitating the site
(South China Morning Post)

EUROPEAN UNION
The Last of Us European censorship confirmed
Naughty Dog has confirmed that the PAL territory version of The Last of Us is missing some elements found in the American release.
(VG 24/7)

PAKISTAN
Internet censorship in Pakistan
He is a devout Muslim. He prays five times a day. He observes fasting during the holy month of Ramazan. He recites the Holy Quran in the morning and evening. His very name is Mohammad Islam.
(The Nation)

RUSSIA
6 Human Rights Violations in Russia Where Snowden Has Asylum
To the chagrin, and the anger, of the U.S., Russia — quite likely with the direct approval of President Vladimir Putin — has granted temporary asylum to Edward Snowden. The former NSA contractor who exposed extraordinary government surveillance of metadata for cell phone calls and online communication has spent over a month in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after leaving Hong Kong, where he had first gone public about the leaked files back in June.
(Care 2)

SINGAPORE
Singapore Media and Censorship
After working for three years as sub-editor in a leading Singapore newspaper, Mark Fenn explains how censorship is enforced in the country
(Global Voices)

SOUTH AFRICA
Net censorship won’t stop child porn
Local legislators should not follow the UK prime minister’s ill-advised plan, says Andrew Verrijdt.
(Mail & Guardian)

SRI LANKA
Freedom of Expression
A number of fallacies are common in the blogosphere. A lot of people cannot cope with, or even understand, disagreement. Americans bloggers are fond of citing the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If someone disagrees with them, they complain that they are being silenced. Genuine disagreement is often described as “whining”.
(The Nation)

TURKEY
Facebook facing accusations of censoring citizen journalism
With its mysterious management team for countries, Facebook continues to be a difficult place for people to engage in citizen journalism. The latest case is Ötekilerin Postası (The Others’ Post), whose site has been closed twice in the last month for no clear reason by Facebook management
(Hurriyet Daily News)

UNITED KINGDOM
Christian rights group wants Scotland Yard to protect street preachers
A Christian legal rights group has asked Scotland Yard to inform its police officers that street preachers have free speech rights.
(Deseret News)

Why banning online porn is not the solution to society’s problem
I find it difficult not to be disturbed by the normalisation of pornography. I talk to a group of 14-year-olds and they openly boast about ‘their porn’. When I raise concerns about the pornification of life with a couple of colleagues they look at me as if to say ‘get real and just enjoy it’.
(YourCanterbury)

Twitter UK Chief Apologizes to Female Victims of Online Abuse
The general manager of Twitter UK, Tony Wang, sent a series of tweets Saturday, apologizing to women who have experienced abuse on its site.
(Legal Insurrection)

UNITED STATES
Obama’s Downward Spiral
Four freedoms have always formed the bedrock of American liberty. The freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the rights to privacy and to a fair trial, largely covered in the first, fourth, and sixth Amendments. It is astonishing that a single president has so thoroughly undermined all four.
(Dissident Voice)

How We Can Balance Freedom Of Speech And The Rights Of College Athletes
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that video game manufacturer EA Sports could not use the First Amendment to toss out a lawsuit against its use of the names, images, and likenesses of college athletes without compensation when it produced its line of NCAA football video games.
(Think Progress)

ACLU Accuses Union of “Extortion” for Using its Free Speech to Criticize It
Everyone supports free speech, until it’s free speech aimed at them. And suddenly the ACLU, an organization that is perfectly okay with turning over classified information to terrorists that can get Americans killed, draws the line at… being embarrassed in the press.
(Frontpage Mag)

For Twitter, Free Speech Is a High-Wire Act
Twitter likes to carry a free-speech banner, but as the micro-blogging site expands globally, freewheeling tweets are clashing with divergent laws and standards in markets.
(Wall Street Journal)

New mural painted at site of art, free speech debate
Original piece at art store was peeling, so owners had artists put up a new one
(San Luis Obispo Tribune)

Free speech doesn’t exist everywhere
Americans excel at one thing for sure: speaking their minds. Everyone has an opinion, and most are eager to share them. We live in a country where it’s not uncommon to hear criticisms of any elected official, from President Obama right on down the line.
(Yuma Sun)

Free expression in the news

09 Jul 13 | In the News

INDEX EVENTS
18 July New World (Dis)Order: What do Turkey, Russia and Brazil tell us about freedom and rights?
Index, in partnership with the European Council on Foreign Relations, is holding a timely debate on the shifting world order and its impact on rights and freedoms. The event will also launch the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, including a special report on the multipolar world.
(More information)

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)

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)

BURMA
Burma’s Press Council Threatens Resignation Over Media Rules
Members of Burma’s interim Press Council say they will resign if the newly minted Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill is passed into law in its current guise.
(The Irrawaddy)

CHINA
State of the artist in China
“What can they do to me?” asks Ai Weiwei. “Who is afraid of Ai Weiwei?” sprays a young woman on city buildings in Hong Kong. You can hate him or love him but you can’t ignore Ai Weiwei.
(The Hindu)

GLOBAL
All the ways Google is asked to censor the web, in one handy chart
Google recently released statistics on all the legal requests it gets to censor the Web via its many services, from Search to YouTube. Now Sebastian Sadowski has created some handy visualizations of all the ways information is being censored — perhaps without you even realizing it.
(io9)

INDIA
To free the press or not to: the Indira govt debate?
The Indira Gandhi government feared Emergency and its various aspects, including the controversial family planning programme, would see the government “severely criticised” if press censorship was lifted in the run-up to the March 1977 Lok Sabha elections.
(Indian Express)

‘India has a strong culture for cinema’
Cinema is a movement that lets you enter the personal space of subjects without disturbing them and the art lies in then knitting a story around them, acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis said on Monday while addressing a news conference at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
(Times of India)

IRAN
Iran’s Rouhani Set to Revamp Censorship?
Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani may be set to revamp the country’s censorship, according to a speech he delivered in Tehran.
(Israel National News)

MOROCCO
Free speech sidelined in Morocco
Despite promising reform and introducing a new constitution in 2011, Morocco’s treatment of dissidents indicates the changes were just window dressing, Samia Errazzouki writes
(Index on Censorship)

NEW ZEALAND
Critic claims censorship on Collins Wiki
Justice Minister Judith Collins’ office has become embroiled in a Wikipedia war with ministry critic Roger Brooking. Brooking is an outspoken critic of Collins and the Justice Ministry and was a prolific Wikipedia editor – now banned – under the username Offender9000.
(Southland Times)

RUSSIA
Guest Post: International solidarity with Russian civil society is crucial
Global action is needed to counter Putin’s crackdown on civil society, says Yuri Dzhibladze, president of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
(Index on Censorship)

Russia to Develop ‘Code of Ethics’ for Film Industry
Veteran Russian directors Karen Shakhnazarov and Marlen Khutsiyev have been included in a working group charged with developing a code of ethics for the Russian film industry, an idea originally suggested by President Vladimir Putin.
(The Hollywood Reporter)

SINGAPORE
US ‘deeply concerned’ by Singapore Internet rules
The United States said Monday it was “deeply concerned” by what it called a “new restrictive” law in Singapore for licensing online news websites.
(Inquirer)

TUNISIA
Hollande’s Tunisia Visit Upsets
Some Civil Society Advocates
While many observers expected the visit of French President Francois Hollande to Tunisia to be postponed, others believed that its timing was counterproductive in the sense that it signaled indirect support for the ruling troika.
(Al Monitor)

UNITED STATES
Top Attorney Floyd Abrams Has Defended Free Speech For Over 40 Years
Floyd Abrams is an ardent defender of free speech and a passionate proponent of the First Amendment. Except for the time that his 12-year-old daughter, now a federal judge, told her dad that she and some friends were going to an R-rated movie.
(NY1)

Coalition calls for veto of NJ media violence ‘disinformation bill’
The National Coalition Against Censorship, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the Center for Democracy and Technology sent a letter to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today asking him to veto Senate Bill 2715, which would require the state’s Department of Education “to prepare and distribute informational pamphlets on how parents can limit a child’s exposure to media violence,” which includes video games, according to the text of the bill.
(Polygon)

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