On leaving Trump behind and free speech among the young: Interview with PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel
Nossel covers a number of topics, including the larger ramifications of the news media’s coverage of President Trump and the importance for the media to stop using this coverage as a bait for ratings.
How EFF and other NGO community leaders saved .ORG
Nonprofits and NGOs around the world were stunned last November when the Internet Society (ISOC) announced that it had agreed to sell the Public Interest Registry – the organization that manages the .ORG top-level domain (TLD) – to private equity firm Ethos Capital. The NGO community sprung to action, writing a letter to ISOC urging it to stop the sale.
Vaccine passports: A stamp of inequity
“We must make sure that, in our scramble to reopen the economy, we do not overlook inequity of access to the vaccine; … and the potential that today’s vaccine passport will act as a catalyst toward tomorrow’s system of national digital identification that can be used to systematically collect and store our personal information.”
Journalism and COVID-19: The toll of the pandemic
What is the toll of the coronavirus on journalism in the United States? While we will never know the full impact, this project – which examines the first 10 months of the pandemic from March to December 2020 – is a
start.
Chinese journalist who covered Covid-19 sentenced to four years in jail
After a mere three-hour trial, lawyer-turned-journalist Zhang Zhan was sentenced on 28 December to four years in prison by a Shanghai court on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for reporting live from the city of Wuhan during the Covid-19 outbreak in February.
COVID-19 pandemic severely undermined press freedom in South Asia
According to IPI’s COVID-19 Press Freedom Tracker, nearly 200 violations linked to the pandemic were reported from the Asia-Pacific region, of which 107 were from four South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal.
Egypt: Access to information is critical to confronting the pandemic
An information blackout has exacerbated the coronavirus pandemic in Egypt, says the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), and calls on authorities to provide access to vital information in an effort to confront the growing health crisis.
Saudi Arabia: Terrorism court sentences women’s rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul
The Free Saudi Activists Coalition condemns the sentencing of Saudi women’s rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul, and calls on governments around the world, including the incoming US Administration, to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their continued human rights violations.
Jordan: Publisher Jamal Haddad arrested for questioning pandemic response
The Committee To Protect Journalists says the arrest of Jordanian publisher Jamal Haddad is part of efforts by authorities aimed at intimidating journalists who question the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and calls for his immediate release.
Turkish lawmakers pass law to exert greater control over NGOs
The legislation permits the Ministry of Interior to replace NGO executives who are prosecuted for “terrorism” charges with new members and suspend the activities of groups. Rights groups warn that it threatens freedom of association and will allow the government to repress civil society organizations.
Afghanistan: Prominent freelance journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad assassinated
Reporter Rahmatullah Nikzad was killed in Ghazni province by unknown assailants on 21 December. He is the third media worker to be killed in Afghanistan this month.
UN experts, civil society groups call on Bangladesh to release cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore
Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore was arrested in May 2020 under the Digital Security Act after he posted on Facebook a series of cartoons he entitled “Life in the Time of Corona”, satirizing and criticizing the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monitored and targeted: Sale of surveillance technology puts lives of MENA activists at risk
Rights groups say sale of surveillance technology to oppressive MENA governments has put activists, journalists, and human rights defenders at risk of harassment, imprisonment, or killing.
Punitive judicial rulings are intentional ploy to silence investigative weekly
The Cameroonian government’s continued violation of legal rights continues with the increased sentences two journalists of the “Kalara” publication received on their appeal.
Ethiopian journalist detained without charge since November
Concerned about its reputation, Ethiopia arrests and extends the detention of award winning journalist Dawit Kebede, for supposedly tarnishing the government’s image in relation to the conflict in Tigray.
Journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo arrested for “annoying” police official
The journalist has been charged for sharing what has been termed “insulting” and “scurrilous” information about Sierra Leone’s assistant inspector-general of police on social media platforms.