8 Jul 2013 | In the News
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
5 Jul 2013 | In the News
INDEX MAGAZINE
Index magazine: The Multipolar Challenge to Free Expression
Coming up in the next issue of Index on Censorship magazine, out Monday, is a special report on the shifting world power balance and the implications for freedom of expression.
(Index on Censorship)
AUSTRALIA
Bid to suppress free speech at WA parliament
Any doubts about the intolerance and political clout of the militant homosexual lobby were dispelled at a book launch held at Western Australia’s Parliament, in Perth, on June 20.
(News Weekly
BAHRAIN
Bahrain journalists body launches contingency fund
The Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) has launched a fund to offer its Bahraini and non-Bahraini members financial assistance during contingency.
(The Peninsula)
CANADA
Protecting unpopular views is critical to a free society
The choice between upholding the free-speech rights of unpopular minorities or pandering to the popular mob has long daunted those in authority.
(The Province)
A gigantic victory for free speech and how Homer Simpson helped fight homophobia
Thankfully, the days of Canada’s human rights bureaucrats policing free speech are officially over. The Senate passed a bill last week abolishing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act—a highly contentious provision intended to crack down on hate speech, but which became a misguided means to stifle legitimate expression and even censor media outlets, including Maclean’s. The end of Section 13 is a gigantic victory for free speech in Canada, and the battle against hate speech will continue where it belongs: in court, under the Criminal Code.
(Maclean’s)
EGYPT
Egyptian army shuts down media outlets
Media outlets in Egypt sympathising with the now ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi have been shut down. Sara Yasin reports
(Index on Censorship)
Index calls on Egypt’s interim government to halt censorship of media
In the wake of the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi in Egypt and commitments to initiate a road map to return to democracy, Index on Censorship calls on Egypt’s interim government to stop all censorship introduced as part of the military takeover, immediately reverse the closure of media outlets, release journalists arrested, and to allow a free and open media to operate representing all views in society.
(Index on Censorship)
GHANA
Analyzing Justice Atuguba’s Hardline Stance
The NPP petition challenging the legitimacy of John Mahama’s presidency was expected to be fact based, and seamlessly tried. Rather there have been unexpected diversions such as debates on courtroom outbursts, media misreporting, KPMG count of pink sheets, and now a debate on freedom of expression.
(Ghana Web)
Ghana: We Should All Learn From the Events On Black Tuesday
It was a Black Tuesday for journalism in Ghana, when the nine Law Lords sitting at the Supreme Court in Accra sentenced Mr. Ken Kuranchie, Publisher and Managing Editor of the Searchlight newspaper, to 10 days in prison for contempt of court, two days ago.
(All Africa)
GLOBAL
Climate change deniers using dirty tricks from ‘Tobacco Wars’
Fossil fuel companies have been funding smear campaigns that raise doubts about climate change, writes John Sauven in the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
(e! Science News)
INDIA
Fingerprints may soon be needed to get SIM cards
Noting that even the mandatory physical verification system doesn’t prevent SIM cards to fall into wrong hands, the home ministry has asked the department of telecommunication (DoT) to explore an option of making it compulsory for cellphone service providers to take fingerprints or any other biometric feature of the subscriber, akin to Aadhaar, before activating the mobile numbers.
(The Times of India)
UNITED KINGDOM
Coalition in behind-the-scenes battle over royal charter on press regulation
A behind-the-scenes battle between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has forced Maria Miller, the culture secretary, to keep open the possibility that the cross-party version of the royal charter on press regulation will be put to the privy council next week.
(The Guardian)
Our libel laws contributed to patient deaths, claims doctor
The UK’s archaic libel laws contributed to the deaths of patients as a company used legal threats to suppress information about problems with its heart product, a leading doctor has said.
(News Letter)
Mobile games attract the attention of the BBFC
Mobile games are becoming a more prominent part of British society and have even become the preferred medium of entertainment for some. As mobile games continue to grow in popularity, they are beginning to attract the attention of influential organizations, namely the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The BBFC is a non-governmental agency that is funded by the film industry and responsible for the classification and appropriate censorship of video content both online and off.
(Mobile Commerce Press)
Crime boss exposed by newspaper libel battle
An East End businessman has been exposed as being involved in fraud, prostitution, money laundering and “extreme violence” after he sued a newspaper for reporting on his criminal activities.
(The Times)
UNITED STATES
Prosecution case vs. Bradley Manning threatens First Amendment rights to free speech and press
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday in the court martial of Bradley Manning, the Army private who has admitted to leaking 700,000 documents exposing US military atrocities and other crimes to the WikiLeaks web site in April of 2010.
(World Socialist Web Site)
Loudness and liberty: When free speech is shouted down
So how “free” is free speech, really? By law, under the First Amendment, speech is very free. Government can only stop us from speaking, or punish us for what we’ve said, under very limited circumstances.
(Grand Rapids Herald-Review)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
July 4 | July 3 | July 2 | July 1 | June 28 | June 27 | June 26 | June 25 | June 24 | June 21
27 Jun 2013 | In the News
INDEX POLICY PAPER
Is the EU heading in the right direction on digital freedom?
While in principle the EU supports freedom of expression, it has often put more emphasis on digital competitiveness and has been slow to prioritise and protect digital freedom, Brian Pellot, digital policy advisor at Index on Censorship writes in this policy paper
(Index on Censorship)
AUSTRALIA
Australia doubles down on censorship, refuses R18+ classification to State of Decay
Australia, coming off the back of refusing classification to Saints Row IV yesterday, apparently wasn’t satisfied with just one act of censorship. Today Undead Labs announced that their game too had been refused classification, so for the foreseeable future Australia will not be seeing State of Decay. Again, the issue seems to be related to some sort of drug use. The team is currently exploring their options with Microsoft
(NeoSeeker)
BAHRAIN
Bahrain mulls clamp on Internet calls
Bahrain is considering introducing controls on calls made via the Internet, including those on Skype and Viber, said a top official.
(Trade Arabia)
BRAZIL
Brazil’s left and right struggle for ownership of protests
Rival groups split on the political direction of the protests, with claims two organisations back military rule
(The Guardian)
EGYPT
Egypt journalists to march for free expression on 30 June
Journalists criticise attacks on freedom of expression under President Mohamed Morsi
(Ahram Online)
EUROPEAN UNION
EU adopts guidelines to “protect and promote” LGBTI rights
Coming on the heels of Russia’s enactment of a “gay propaganda” law, the European Union’s decision to adopt guidelines to protect the rights of lebian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in foreign relations on Monday is welcome. Sean Gallagher writes
(Index on Censorship)
FRANCE
Pro-Israeli activist found guilty of libel
A man has been convicted of defamation in France for his claims about a widely-publicised video which showed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy’s death in Gaza Strip.
(Al Jazeera)
ISRAEL
Knesset members seek libel protection for IDF soldiers
If passed, legislation will enable class-action suits against critics who make false claims about army operations
(The Times of Israel)
INDIA
Censor laws are extremely ambiguous: Anand Gandhi
Independent filmmaker Anand Gandhi was in the city recently to screen his film ‘Ship of Theseus’ for the students of Film and Television Institute of India. Anand spoke to TOI about being an independent filmmaker, film censorship and why serious engagement from the government for Indian films is the need of the hour.
(The Times of India)
JORDAN
Jordan Accused Of Targeting Online Dissent
Jordan’s King Abdullah vowed to make the desert kingdom a “free Internet” country as he began his rule more than a decade ago. On June 2, when local Internet providers were ordered to block hundreds of news websites across the kingdom, Web publishers protested the broken promise and international media watchdog organizations charged censorship.
(NPR)
RUSSIA
Blockage of Major News Websites Raises Censorship Fears
A ruling by a court in the central Russian town of Ulyanovsk ordering a state-run Internet provider to block access to 15 websites, including those of two prominent national newspapers, has sparked fears of a broader campaign of Internet censorship in the country.
(The Moscow Times)
SOUTH AFRICA
South African groups seek arrest warrants for Obama
Two South African groups were trying to obtain arrest warrants for US President Barack Obama, who will visit the country later this week.
(Times Live)
TURKEY
Turkey seeks to tighten grip on Twitter after protests
Turkey said on Wednesday it had asked Twitter to set up a representative office inside the country, which could give it a tighter rein over the microblogging site it has accused of helping stir weeks of anti-government protests.
(Reuters)
UNITED KINGDOM
Banning of Geller and Spencer from UK will only build grievance
Britain’s ban on anti-Muslim activists could do more harm than good, says Padraig Reidy
(Index on Censorship)
Change in libel laws ‘not required in Northern Ireland’
A Stormont committee has been told there is no need to reform antiquated Northern Ireland’s libel laws by a high-profile libel lawyer.
(Belfast Telegraph)
Daily Mail in £110k libel payout over Syrian chemical weapons story
The Daily Mail has been forced to pay more than £100,000 in damages and apologise for a story linking a UK defence company with the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
(Press Gazette)
UNITED STATES
Jeff Olson Faces 13 Years In Jail For Writing Anti-Bank Messages In Chalk
Jeff Olson, a man who is being prosecuted for writing anti-bank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year, is facing a 13-year jail sentence.
(Opposing Views)
Companies win U.S. free speech shield over scientific articles
Authors and publishers of controversial scientific articles, and the companies sponsoring those articles, won broad free speech protection from a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday.
(Reuters)
Sexual predator cries censorship over Jaycee Dugard memoir
Eight years ago, a New York journalist named Peter Braunstein, then 41, forced his way into the apartment of a 34-year-old Manhattan woman by pretending to be a firefighter. He proceeded to drug the woman, a former colleague, and sexually assault her for more than 12 hours.
(Los Angeles Times)
VIETNAM
In Vietnam, “Depraved” Blogging Could Get You Locked Up for a Decade
Vietnam is not a good place to be a blogger. At least, it’s not a good place to be a blogger if you actually want to write what’s on your mind.
(Motherboard)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
June 26 | June 25 | June 24 | June 21 | June 20 | June 19 | June 18 | June 17
25 Jun 2013 | In the News
INDEX POLICY PAPER
Is the EU heading in the right direction on digital freedom?
While in principle the EU supports freedom of expression, it has often put more emphasis on digital competitiveness and has been slow to prioritise and protect digital freedom, Brian Pellot, digital policy advisor at Index on Censorship writes in this policy paper
(Index on Censorship)
BRAZIL
Freedom of expression, an unfulfilled promise in Brazil
Brazil’s media is characterized by oligopolistic ownership and certain opinions dominate. Journalists and human rights activist call for new laws and regulations to safeguard freedom of speech and access to information in the host country of the 2014 World Cup.
(Journalism in the Americas)
Brazil president Dilma Rousseff proposes referendum on political reforms to try and quell protests
President Dilma Rousseff has announced a referendum on political reform along with £14 billion for public transport after more than a million took to the streets to protest in Brazil.
(The Telegraph)
BURMA
Literature needs freedom – and freedom needs literature
At this weekend’s session of the Edinburgh World Writers’ conference in Kuala Lumpur, the eminent Burmese writer – imprisoned under censorship laws for more than five years – used her own experience to reflect on censorship and imagination.
(The Guardian)
CANADA
Free speech integral to campus life
Opinion: University presidents must uphold the right of students to express unpopular opinions during peaceful protests
(Vancouver Sun)
CHINA
China Is Unblocking Some Search Terms — But Censorship Still Thrives Online
The Communist Party’s efforts to restrict political speech on the Internet have become increasingly sophisticated.
(The Atlantic)
EGYPT
Rights group condemns lawsuits against free speech
Lawsuits against media and opposition groups must stop says Arab Network for Human Rights Information
(Daily News Egypt)
G8
G8 governments sign Open Data Charter
During its summit in Northern Ireland, the G8 issued a declaration and signed an Open Data Charter on June 18, stating their intent to promote machine readable and publicly-available government data.
(Fierce Government IT)
IRAN
Internet Throttling Is Evidence of Iranian Censorship
One of the growing concerns for human rights campaigners is the increasing evidence of Internet censorship in many repressive regimes around the world. During the Arab spring, for example, Egyptian leaders “switched off” the Internet in an attempt to prevent activists from organizing protests or communicating with the outside world. The Syrian leadership appears to have done a similar thing on several occasions during the current civil war.
(Mashable)
NEW ZEALAND
Peters blasts ‘Orwellian’ censorship over stand on migrants
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has compared the country to an Orwellian state because he feels he is being censored for remarks on Chinese immigration to New Zealand.
(The New Zealand Herald)
TAIWAN
After Public Outcry, Taiwan Backs Off For SOPA Like Censorship
Freedom on the Internet is a far fetched idea but citizens are not giving up easily either. Recently we had shared that the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (IPO) had proposed an amendment to its Copyright Act, a proposal that is similar to the United States Bill, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The good news is that Taiwan has temporarily stopped the bill.
(Business 2 Community)
TUNISIA
Tunisian rapper jailed for anti-police song
Tunisian rapper Alaa Yacoub has been sent two prison for two years for an anti-police song. Sara Yasin reports
(Index on Censorship)
TURKEY
Obama, Erdogan discuss Turkish protests
President Barack Obama spoke to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday about the importance of free expression, following days of violence in anti-government demonstrations.
(News24)
BBC reporters ‘intimidated’ by Turkey
The BBC says it is “very concerned” by a campaign by the Turkish authorities to “intimidate its journalists”.
(BBC)
In Turkey’s pious heartland, protests seem world away
“This Nation Is With You” declares a small billboard in the centre of this conservative central Turkish city, the words emblazoned on an image of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and a sea of his flag-waving supporters.
(EuroNews)
UNITED KINGDOM
Mass surveillance threatens freedom of expression
Index on Censorship is extremely concerned about the reported extent of mass surveillance of both meta data and content, resulting from the alleged tapping into underwater cables that carry national and international communications traffic.
(Index on Censorship)
Don’t turn Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer into free speech martyrs
The anti-fascist campaign group Hope Not Hate (HNH) has written to the home secretary Theresa May urging her to stop Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from entering the UK to speak at an English Defence League rally on Saturday 29 June.
(Left Foot Forward)
UNITED STATES
US needs to protect whistleblowers and journalists
Index on Censorship calls upon the US government to uphold the First Amendment. Whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden — as well as journalists reporting on the Prism scandal, who have come under fire — should be protected under the first amendment, not criminalised.
(Index on Censorship)
Link Between Gun Violence and Video Games is Flawed, Says Media Coalition
The discussion about whether playing violent video games causes real-life gun violence has been raging for years. A new report today by Media Coalition Inc. is bound to fuel that fire, claiming that the harm of violent video games has “skewed the debate and fuels misguided calls for censorship.” Although the report’s headline focuses on “media,” its content focuses on violent videogames, and the Coalition’s press release was promoted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which is responsible for the E3 video game trade show.
(Daily Game)
Shirt Focus of Free-Speech Fight
In West Virginia, the love of freedom is ingrained more directly in the fabric of the state’s legacy than in most places. It broke away from Virginia at the outset of the Civil War over slavery, becoming the 35th state in the Union 150 years ago this week. But even before that, West Virginia’s forbidding geography had stamped itself on the character of its people.
(Real Clear Poltics)
An important ruling for groups’ free speech rights
A Supreme Court decision rightly prevents the government from requiring certain stances by organizations receiving public funds.
(The Mercury)
Floyd Abrams Talks First Amendment Law At Google
The First Amendment is incredibly important in the Internet age. It’s frequently at the center of many debates on what constitutes free speech online. Now, one of the foremost First Amendment scholars of our time – Floyd Abrams – stopped by Google to talk about his new book, “Friends of the Court: On The Front Lines With The First Amendment”
(WebPro News)
U.S. presses Russia as mystery over Snowden deepens
The United States increased pressure on Russia on Monday to hand over Edward Snowden, the American charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, and said it believed he was still in Moscow.
(Reuters)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
June 24 | June 21 | June 20 | June 19 |
June 18 | June 17 | June 14
