Free expression in the news

12 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)

AZERBAIJAN
President Aliyev: Creating conditions for free activity of media is one of main directions of state policy
Creating conditions for free activity of media to ensure the political pluralism in Azerbaijan is one of main directions of the state policy, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his letter of appeal to participants of the sixth Congress of Azerbaijani Journalists on July 11.
(Trend)

BELARUS
Praying in Homeless Shelter a Crime
A young Catholic layman, who turned his home into a shelter for homeless people with a prayer room, is being accused of leading an unregistered religious organization. Aleksei Shchedrov, who says he has helped about 100 local people since December 2011, is being investigated on criminal charges under Article 193-1. As a result, he now faces a maximum possible sentence of two years’ imprisonment.
(Canadian Free Press)

BRAZIL
Brazilian writer convicted for fictional story
José Cristian Góes says case brought against him is a “direct attack on free speech. Rafael Spuldar reports
(Index on Censorship)

Brazil May Seek to Speak With Snowden as Spy Charges Spread
Brazil’s government said it may contact fugitive former security contractor Edward Snowden as it probes allegations the U.S. monitored phone calls and e-mail in Latin America’s largest economy.
(Bloomberg)

CANADA
Canada Repeals Restriction on Online “Hate Speech”
Have you heard about this place called Canada? It’s like some weird parallel America where they never had a revolution.
(Reason)

CJFE concerned by arrest of New Brunswick journalist
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) is deeply concerned about the RCMP’s arrest under unusual circumstances of New Brunswick-based journalist Miles Howe.
(Press Release)

Censoring Canadian science
Last summer, a rally of over 2,000 researchers, scientists, and students gathered on Parliament Hill to protest a federal trend of scientific censorship that began when the Conservative party took control of the Federal government in 2006. For the protesters, the government had crossed the line with numerous budget cuts to environmental research programs, extensive job cuts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and numerous restrictions on investigators’ communications with the media.
(McGill Daily)

GHANA
Journalist freed in Ghana amid free speech concerns
A Ghanaian newspaper editor was released Thursday after serving a controversial 10-day jail term ordered by the west African nation’s supreme court for criticising the judges’ handling of a dispute over last year’s presidential election.
(AFP)

GUINEA
Radio Station Director Charged for Libel
Managing Director of Planete FM, Mandian Sidibe, has been charged with libel and placed under judicial review by a Magistrates’ Court in Conakry, the capital, for comments he made during a radio programme.
(All Africa)

INDONESIA
Indonesia Affirms Restrictions to Freedom of Expression
On July 10 and 11, 2013 the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of the most important human rights treaties Indonesia has ratified and has the obligation to implement to ensure protection of these rights in Indonesia.
(Scoop)

KENYA
Kenyan Media shock over new Media Bill that removes self-regulation
Media stakeholders are worried after learning that sections of the Media Bill 2013 that guarantee self-regulation of the press have been deleted from the original draft.
(Standard Digital)

NEW ZEALAND
Suicide reporting rules under review
The Government has announced that New Zealand’s 25-year-old censorship of suicide reporting is to be reviewed by the Law Commission. JAMES HOLLINGS talks to two leading experts who think the restrictions should go.
(The Press)

RUSSIA
New Russian video game takes aim at punk band riot
A Russian Orthodox youth group unveiled a video game on Thursday that gives players a chance to “kill” members of the punk band Pussy Riot, whose profanity-laden protest in a Moscow cathedral last year angered the church and offended some believers.
(Reuters)

SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka flirts with press regulation
Is Sri Lanka’s President Rajapaksa, identified as an “enemy of the press”, taking lessons from Leveson, asks Padraig Reidy
(Index on Censorship)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Defending press freedom
Although freedom of the press is enshrined in our Constitution, it is a right which nonetheless requires eternal vigilance. This is because powerful persons and groups are continually trying to erode this right, to the detriment of the average citizen.
(Trinidad Express)

TUNISIA
Tunisia’s version of Tamarod
A Tunisian version of the Egyptian Tamarod movement has been collecting signatures against the country’s government and institutions, writes Lasaad Ben Ahmad in Tunis
(Al-Ahram)

TURKEY
Scientific Conflict in Turkey
The Turkish government’s refusal to fund a summer school course on evolution has brought into sharp focus the divisions between political Islam and secular society in Turkey.
(BBC)

UNITED STATES
Porn Producers Say Unprotected Sex Is Free Speech Right
Pornographic movie makers told a judge that a Los Angeles County voter-approved measure requiring adult-film actors to wear condoms violates their constitutional right to free speech.
(Bloomberg)

Hate speech or free speech in Milford
You’ve heard that freedom isn’t free. The “cost” of free speech is that everybody gets it, even people you don’t like.
(Connecticut Post)

Removing the Kahane Google App Isn’t Censorship
In a recent Open Zion column, Zack Parker criticized Google’s decision to take down a Google App containing Kahane quotes, to which the radical settler extremist Baruch Marzel had linked, as censorship. While the objective of preserving free speech is pure, the criticism of the takedown as censorship misunderstands the nature of free speech and the implementation of the criticism would be a severe blow to counter-radicalization efforts.
(The Daily Beast)

Proposed restrictions on Fort Williams artists raise free speech issue in Cape Elizabeth
A public hearing grew tense Monday when a local artist and his wife accused the Town Council of undermining the U.S. Constitution.
(The Forecaster)

My fight for free speech at LSU
I decided in seventh grade that one day I was going to attend Louisiana State University’s law school, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I’ve bled purple and gold ever since. So when I finally got there last fall, I never expected that in a few short months I would be involved in a lawsuit against the school.
(Live Action News)

Previous Free Expression in the News posts
July 11 | July 10 | July 9 | July 8 | July 5 | July 4 | July 3 | July 2 | July 1 | June 28

Free expression in the news

05 Jul 13 | 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