30 May 13 | In the News
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Caught in the web: how free are we online? June 10, 2013
The internet: free open space, wild wild west, or totalitarian state? However you view the web, in today’s world it is bringing both opportunities and threats for free expression. More >>>
GLOBAL
Blogs still aid global freedom of expression
While blogging has existed for more than a decade, WordPress, the software that runs millions of blogs and websites, celebrated its 10th anniversary. The free service has made it simple for anyone to share their views. (DW)
AUSTRALIA
Freedom of speech our basic right
SINCE October last year, I have been regularly warned that “dissent” against the views and interests of the State Government would jeopardise the riverfront funding, create dangerous “unintended consequences” in vaguely-defined ways, and even cause the government to appoint an administrator to strip council of legal and administrative powers. (Sunraysia Daily)
More Australian government departments admit censoring websites
A national security agency has used federal powers to block Australian access to websites, in the latest development surrounding revived fears of internet censorship. (Financial Review)
BRAZIL
Brazilian court gags protester in latest social media ruling
A judge from the Brazilian state of São Paulo has barred a protester from an allegedly illegal construction site or even posting about it on Facebook. It’s the latest in a string of rulings targeting social media in the country. (Index on Censorship)
IRAN
As Iran’s Presidential Election Approaches, Iranian Journalists Live In Fear
As Iran’s June presidential election approaches, Iranian authorities, as a precautionary measure, have intensified their crackdown on journalists. (International Business Times)
NORWAY
Norwegian Newspaper Dagbladet Sparks Outrage with ‘Blood Libel’ Cartoon
Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, has sparked outrage after publishing a cartoon “blood libel” Tuesday. Norway’s third largest newspaper, published the cartoon, in which a modestly dressed woman can be seen holding a blood soaked book and telling law enforcement officers: “Mistreating? No this is tradition, an important part of our belief”! (The Algemeiner)
PAKISTAN
Promoting culture: Artists want clear policy, freedom of expression
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has won the elections and now people are wondering whether or not they will deliver on all that they promised in their manifesto and how. (The Express Tribune)
RUSSIA
Economist Sergei Guriev flees Russia
Sergei Guriev leaves after being questioned by state investigators amid clampdown on groups critical of Vladimir Putin.
(The Guardian)
UNITED KINGDOM
Index responds to Theresa May comments
Theresa May’s comments on the Andrew Marr Show have lead to a round of speculation around the actions that the Home Secretary will take in the wake of Woolwich, especially in regard to the shelved Communications Data Bill. (Index on Censorship)
UNITED STATES
Iowa Community College to Pay $14,000 to Settle Free Speech Lawsuit
An Iowa community college will pay nearly $14,000 to settle a free-speech lawsuit filed by a student who was barred from distributing fliers criticizing a conference on gay youth. (KCRG.com)
Conservative Media Predicted Obama’s First-Amendment Scandals
The Obama administration’s free-speech scandals of today were repeatedly and accurately predicted by conservative pundits during the 2008 election. Obama’s first presidential campaign launched a series of novel and troubling assaults on its critics, leading many conservatives to warn that both the press and political speech would come under attack should Obama be elected president. Some of the predictions about Obama made by conservative writers in 2008 seem uncannily on-the-mark today. (National Review Online)
How Did Facebook Let Rape Speech Go Unpoliced for So Long?
As of today, Facebook officially no longer allows the pages “Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs” and “Kicking your Girlfriend in the Fanny because she won’t make you a Sandwich” to exist on its social network, and — what do you know? — it only took a well publicized media campaign and angry advertisers to do it. In a message to its users, Facebook has outlined a new policy for dealing with violent and hateful speech to better deal with — though, not outright ban — this kind of “distasteful humor,” which, of course, begs the question: How come Facebook wasn’t doing anything about this in the first place? (The Atlantic)
School Rules and a Twitter “Social Media Riot” or Student Free Speech?
A graduating high school senior finished a 3-day suspension on Wednesday for creating a Twitter hashtag about a budget controversy, but the upstate New York case continues to play out in social media. (Huffington Post)
Colorado county limits free speech to a remote, tiny area around its buildings
With much of Colorado embroiled in a debate about the Second Amendment, one county has decided to ruffle feathers over the First. (The Daily Caller)
The Kochs’ expansive power: PBS donations, censorship, bidding for the Tribune Company
When only six corporations own all of the media in America, who controls the narrative? Are we even a part of the conversation? Now the only bastion of “public programming,” Public Broadcasting Service, looks like it is not so independent of corporate control after all. Big money is also trying to get their corrupt paws on the Tribune Company but those who want to protect a free press are fighting to stop it. (All Voices)
LePage says Medicaid expansion pressure, Democrats’ ‘censorship’ starts in Washington
Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday railed against an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Maine, calling it a disturbing national trend of damaging federal mandates. LePage also linked what he called censorship he has experienced in the past two weeks to a pattern of the same at the national level, suggesting that citizens go home and arm themselves if it continues. (Bangor Daily News)
Comcast and Verizon’s Phony Free-Speech Claim
Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrote this week that the First Amendment shields Comcast Corp. from Congress’s authority to ensure the free flow of information across the basic network connections it provides. (Bloomberg)
24 May 13 | In the News
BRAZIL
Brazil’s Federal Police seize journalist’s equipment
Brazil’s Federal Police seized a journalist’s equipment – including his computer – during an operation to remove indians from a farm in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The seizure was decried as illegal by the reporter’s employer, one of the country’s most prominent aid agencies aimed at indigenous peoples, Rafael Spuldar reports. (Index on Censorship)
ISRAEL
Bill protecting IDF from slander passes first Knesset reading
New law will allow for defamation lawsuits to be filed against people or groups who slander the IDF, without having to go through the attorney-general, as is the case today. The bill aims to protect the IDF from libel by Israel detractors. (Israel Hayom)
PHILIPPINES
DOJ deletes libel from new anti-cybercrime bill
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed libel from the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, pruning away one of the questioned sections of the law. (Business Mirror)
RUSSIA
Putin’s war on dissent in Russia
A year after the mass protests marking Vladimir Putin’s controversial presidential win, Elena Vlasenko reports from Moscow on the heavy-handed repression confronting the Russian opposition. (Index on Censorship)
SYRIA
Birthday wishes for Bassel Khartabil
Software engineer and open-source advocate Bassel Khartabil spent his second birthday in prison yesterday. Index calls on the Syrian government to release Khartabil. (Index on Censorship)
THAILAND
Critic’s Facebook page suspended; cartoonist ‘ignores’ summonses
Thammasat University academic Somsak Jeamteerasakul’s Facebook account has been suspended for 30 days, leading to widespread criticism on social media. (The Nation)
TUNISIA
Crackdown on radical Islamists tests Tunisia’s stability
For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities. (Reuters)
TURKEY
Turkey presents Prophet’s sayings for the 21st Century
cholars around the Muslim world were alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planned a new, possibly heretical, compilation of the Prophet Mohammad’s sayings that might scrap those it thought were no longer applicable. (Al Arabyia)
UKRAINE
Journalists defend colleagues in Ukraine’s ‘new war with press’
Two journalists were attacked while covering a street rally in Kiev, and nine more Ukrainian reporters were in danger of losing government accreditation following a protest to support their colleagues, Andrei Alaiksandrau reports. (Index on Censorship)
UNITED KINGDOM
A responsible internet
Internet companies and service providers need to do much more to keep pornography away from children. (The Telegraph)
Woolwich attack: two arrested over Twitter comments
Two men are arrested for making alleged offensive comments on Twitter about the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. (Channel 4)
UNITED STATES
Associated Press Scandal: Does the Media Only Care About Free Speech When It Comes to Their Own?
It is no surprise that the media has been quick to voice its support for Fox News reporter James Rosen and the Associated Press , following revelations of invasive government investigations into their respective sources. (PolicyMic)
Obama to Gitmo Speech Heckler: ‘Part Of Free Speech Is…You Listening’
President Barack Obama had a hard time getting through parts of his foreign policy speech at the National Defense University Thursday, thanks to Medea Benjamin, co-founder of left-leaning, female anti-militarism group Code Pink. (Personal Liberty Digest)
Sexual harassment rules on college campuses trickle down to freedom of speech
The places where you might find some of the freest thinkers and those that want to protect their right to free speech are now also the target of new policies that will limit that same speech. (MyNorthwest.com)
PostScript: McConnell and free speech
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appears with an opinion piece on our page today. He argues that the IRS and AP scandals are part of a pattern with the Obama administration’s push for the disclosure of political donors. (Washington Post)
LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Democratic legislative leaders said Thursday that Republican Gov. Paul LePage told them he would move his office from the State House in a protest over not being able to have a television display outside his office. But LePage said his staff would remain there “until partisan leaders of the Legislature choose to evict them.” (Bangor Daily News)
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Caught in the web: how free are we online? June 10, 2013
The internet: free open space, wild wild west, or totalitarian state? However you view the web, in today’s world it is bringing both opportunities and threats for free expression. More >>>
23 May 13 | Europe and Central Asia
Two journalists were attacked while covering a street rally in Kiev, and nine more Ukrainian reporters were in danger of losing government accreditation following a protest to support their colleagues, Andrei Alaiksandrau reports.
TV journalist Olga Snitsarchuk and her husband, Kommersant photographer Vladislav Sodel were beaten on 18 May in the centre of Kiev, while they were taking pictures of a political rally in the Ukrainian capital. The journalists began recording images of a group of young men who were attacking people at the gathering.
Ukrainian journalists rally in Kiev to support journalists. (Photo: ukrafoto ukrainian news / Demotix)
“Having seeing that I started taking photos, young men in tracksuits rushed at me. And Olga began to take video of how they were beating me, so the men knocked her to the ground and began to beat”, Vladislav Sodel told Ukrainskaya Pravda.
Police officers who were present at the scene ignored appeals for help from rally participants and the journalists, according to witnesses. One of the attackers was later identified as Vadim Titushko, who happens to be a member of a police sports club. Titushko was detained and interrogated, but on 22 May released on bail.
Full Coverage: Ukraine | Today on Index: Brazil’s Federal Police seize journalist’s equipment | Birthday wishes for Bassel Khartabil | Vietnamese activists appeal sentences | Free expression in the news
Index on Censorship Events
Caught in the web: how free are we online? June 10, 2013
The internet: free open space, wild wild west, or totalitarian state? However you view the web, in today’s world it is bringing both opportunities and threats for free expression. More >>>
Ukrainian journalists demanded the incident be properly investigated. On 22 May nine reporters conducted a silent action during a government meeting by turning their backs on ministers to show posters that read “Today it is a journalist, tomorrow it is going to be your wife, sister or daughter. Take action!”
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered the journalists removed from the hall and, later, withdrew their press credentials for “breach of order of coverage of Cabinet of Ministers’ work.” This incident prompted about 100 Ukrainian journalists to protest outside the prime minister’s office in support of Snitsarchuk, Sodel and their nine colleagues. The government announced that the journalists would keep their accreditation. Moreover, Verkhovna Rada, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, today created an ad-hoc committee to investigate the 18 May incident.
“We are at the beginning of a new war between the state and the press,” a Ukraininan MP and a former journalist Volodymyr Ariev said yesterday in London during a conference on media regulation, organised by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The Institute of Mass Information, a Ukrainian media freedom non-governmental organisation, has reported on the deterioration of the media environment in the country.
“There was a huge increase in the number of physical attacks on journalists in 2012, with 80 cases registered in comparison to just 26 in 2011. We also note an increase of instances of censorship. This year is going to be tough for journalists and free speech in Ukraine as the authorities will definitely aim at building the basis for 2015 presidential elections,” Oksana Romaniuk, a representative of Reporters Without Borders in Ukraine, told Index.
06 May 13 | United Kingdom
Are you passionate about freedom of expression? Do you want to write for an award-winning, internationally renowned magazine and website, which has published the works of Aung San Suu Kyi, Salman Rushdie and Arthur Miller? Then enter Index on Censorship’s student blogging competition!
The winning entry will be published in Index on Censorship magazine, a celebrated, agenda-setting international affairs publication. It will be posted on our popular and influential website, which attracts contributors and readers from around the world. Index is one of the leading international go-to sources for hard-hitting coverage of the biggest threats and challenges to freedom of expression today. This competition is a fantastic opportunity for any aspiring writer to reach a global, diverse and informed audience.
The winner will also be awarded £100, be invited to attend the launch party of our latest magazine in London, get to network with leading figures from international media and human rights organisations, and will receive a one-year subscription to Index on Censorship magazine.
To be in with a chance of winning, send your thoughts on the vital human right that guides our work across the world, from the UK to Brazil to Azerbaijan. Write a 500-word blog post on the following topic:
“What is the biggest challenge facing freedom of expression in the world today?
This can cover old-fashioned repression, threats to digital freedom, religious clampdown or barriers to access to freedom of expression, focusing on any region or country around the world.”
The competition is open to all first year undergraduate students in the UK, and the winning entry will be determined by a panel of distinguished judges including Index Chair Jonathan Dimbleby. To enter, submit your blog post to [email protected] by 31 May 2013.
