Category Archives: Press freedom

Trump one chapter of bad fiction in America’s true history, White House correspondents’ dinner told

Posted on by

‘When you chip away at the press, you chip away at our democracy’, Pultitzer-winning historian Ron Chernow tells Trump-free event

As Donald Trump flailed his arms and railed against the media at a raucous campaign rally on Saturday night, a Pulitzer prize-winning historian delivered an elegantly scathing rebuke at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) annual dinner.

America the split screen nation – so evident in polarised reactions to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference – was on vivid display again in two speeches.

Continue reading...

Mexico: President Amlo’s criticism of national newspaper sparks death threats

Posted on by

Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to protect the press, but his barbs have resulted in journalists being harassed

Andrés Manuel López Obrador swept the Mexican left into power with promises of respecting the press and ending the killing of journalists.

Related: 'They went to execute him': fourth Mexican journalist killed so far in 2018

Continue reading...

The Observer view on extraditing Julian Assange | Observer editorial

Posted on by

Sending the WikiLeaks founder to face charges in the US would be a disaster for press freedom

It’s not difficult to despise Julian Assange. For seven years, he has attempted to evade rape and sexual assault charges in Sweden by seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He has dismissed the charges as a “radical feminist conspiracy” and tried to smear the complainants as acting on behalf of the CIA. His excuse for refusing to face trial in Sweden – that he would then face extradition to the US – has always been hogwash. He is no safer from extradition in Britain than he would have been in Sweden, as he may soon discover.

There are questions to be asked about WikiLeaks, too. The organisation has been invaluable in allowing whistleblowers to safely publish documents that the authorities would rather have kept hushed up, from the truth about the commodity trader Trafigura’s devastating dumping of chemical waste in Ivory Coast to videos of US helicopter attacks on Iraqi civilians. It is, or certainly was in its early days, an important tool in cutting down to size those in power who would abuse their power.

Continue reading...

Freed photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid reunited with family – video

Posted on by

The Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, better known as Shawkan, was jailed in 2013 for reporting on anti-government protests. Today, after almost six years, he was finally released. 'I feel like I am flying,' he said as he was reunited with family and friends

Continue reading...

Maria Ressa: editor of Rappler news website arrested on ‘cyber-libel’ charges

Posted on by

Philippines president Duterte government accused of shameless persecution

The editor of an online newspaper in the Philippines has been arrested on charges of cyber-libel as part of what the country’s journalists’ union said was a campaign of intimidation against voices critical of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaking from the headquarters of news website Rappler on Wednesday before she was taken away by four plainclothes officers, Maria Ressa said she was not intimidated. “These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail,” she added.

Continue reading...

John Oliver: ‘Maybe Brexit is a great idea. There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that’

Posted on by

As the British comedian’s show returns, he discusses fighting fake news, why Brexit is worse than Trump’s presidency – and his attempt to convert his kids to Marmite

The Donald Trump presidency, John Oliver observed in 2017, is a marathon. “It’s painful, it’s pointless and the majority of you didn’t even agree to run it; you were just signed up by your dumbest friend,” he told viewers. “And though you’re exhausted and your whole body is screaming for you to give up and your nipples are chafing for some reason, the stakes are too high for any of us to stop.”

Activists, politicians, judges, journalists and concerned citizens are all running the race. Some have embraced the challenge and now, past the halfway point, are finding hope as they see the 2020 election on the horizon. Others have wobbled, legs buckling, consumed by the anxiety that they will never make it. Oliver, a cheerful and charming presence in a conference room at HBO’s headquarters in New York, is surely one of those runners wearing a wacky costume, pointing out the absurdity of the exercise while embodying the stamina and stoicism required to reach the finish line.

Continue reading...

Iranian state television anchor arrested after flying into the US

Posted on by

Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans, was detained after arriving in St Louis, broadcaster said

A prominent American anchor on Iranian state television’s English-language service NEWhas been arrested in the US on undisclosed charges, according to her employers at the state-backed TV channel Press TV..

Marzieh Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans, appeares on the English-language news channel backed by the Iranian government which regularly promotes the worldview of the Middle Eastern state to an international audience.

Continue reading...

Reuters journalists to remain in Myanmar jail after losing appeal

Posted on by

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo jailed for seven years for breaching country’s Official Secrets Act

The two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting on the violence against the Rohingya in Rahkine state have lost their appeal, with the court upholding their guilty verdict and lengthy prison sentences.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had each been handed prison sentences of seven years in June after they were found guilty of breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act after it was claimed they were in possession of classified documents.

Continue reading...