News

Proposed Kenyan law threatens to choke press (updated)

After a period of robust growth, the Kenyan media face a potentially devastating law.

Protests in Bangkok highlight drone journalism

While laws in the USA and the U.K. largely prohibit drone journalism, an unlikely country has accepted the use of these small, unmanned, camera-equipped aircraft to capture images: Thailand.

U.K.’s Royal Charter is a dangerous example, Sri Lankan editors warn

Sri Lankan editors are urging British Prime Minister David Cameron to put a stop to the Royal Charter on press regulation affirming the need to protect the U.K.’s reputation as a “beacon of freedom.”

WAN-IFRA sends press freedom mission to Britain

2013-11-11. An unprecedented top-level press freedom mission is being sent to the United Kingdom by the world’s press freedom organisations in response to recent actions by the British government.

Proposed Royal Press Charter in Britain draws outrage

Controversies over press freedom in Britain have been prominent in news headlines since the Leveson report last year, and current proposals for a Parliament-backed Royal Charter to govern press regulation is the subject of indignant and divisive debate.

World’s press calls on established democracies to better protect freedom of expression

On the eve of the World Publishing Expo, the Board of WAN-IFRA expressed their concern over a growing number of cases of press freedom violations in established democracies, and called for greater respect for freedom of expression.

No news is good news for South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma

In an address to journalism students visiting Parliament from Tshwane University of Technology, South African President Jacob Zuma bemoaned the “overly negative” image of the country portrayed in the media, suggesting it deterred foreign investment and painted a stay-away image. Citing a trip to Mexico as deputy president, he lauded the “patriotic reporting” that kept bad news out of the country’s press. What President Zuma failed to acknowledge is that the Mexican media has been under constant violent attack for its attempts to cover the ongoing consequences of the “War on Drugs”, and that the silence he so praised is a desperate sign of the country’s democratic failings.

Have you heard the one about the prosecutor, four cops and an award-winning journalist?

Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 6:40am, 13 August 2013. A prosecutor, four criminal investigators and an IT expert enter the apartment of award-winning journalist, Ludovic Rocchi. Working on assignment, the journalist’s wife is home alone and reportedly interrogated in his place. Computer equipment and notebooks are seized before the dawn squad retreat, taking along with them a good chunk of Switzerland’s press freedom.

It is time to enshrine press freedom as an immutable right in the UK

Illegal detention and government threats to a free press, just the latest headlines to emerge from the UK in a summer of revelations connected to NSA surveillance. Both revolve around the Guardian newspaper, and both require legal precedent to change in order to prevent Britain further lurching towards the unpleasant label of 21st Century totalitarian democracy.

New York Times’ Gmail use raises concerns over protection of sources

“In the wake of this year’s disclosures, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless”. So said Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower, when quizzed by Peter Maass on the issue of safe interaction between journalists and informants. Though he describes himself as “famously paranoid”, Snowden would find many of his fears over email security substantiated by tech journalist Steve Henn’s article on Google’s Gmail. Writing for NPR, Henn reports on the threat posed by Google’s email service to the privacy of journalists and, crucially, their sources.