In censoring Web, Thailand could worsen crisis
As part of its declaration of emergency, the Thai government last week radically broadened existing Internet censorship powers to prohibit a wide range of speech, including independent commentary and newsgathering. In doing so, it has exacerbated an already fragile political situation and may have permanently weakened Thailand’s constitutional protections for press freedom.
China imposed strict controls on Google coverage
Our friends at China Digital Times have translated recent orders from China’s State Council Information Office to domestic news organizations and Web sites about how to handle the country’s ongoing dispute with Google. We’re posting an excerpt here, but please read the whole link. There’s a great discussion about government censors’ plans for monitoring social…
Philippine high court spokesman: Death threats ‘funny’
Midas Marquez, spokesman for the Philippine Supreme Court, has told local reporters that he considers death threats sent anonymously by text message to journalist Marites Dañguilan Vitug to be “funny” and “ridiculous.” Marquez was asked to comment in his official role because the threats began shortly after the release of Vitug’s new book, Shadow of…
In Garcia-Esperat murder, a twisting path to justice
Five years ago today, a gunman strode into the home of muckraking Philippine journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat, pulled out a .45-caliber pistol, and shot her once in the head. A columnist and radio host on the southern island of Mindanao, Garcia-Esperat had made plenty of enemies while exposing government corruption.
Google’s Chinese wake-up call
On Monday, Google made good on its promise to stop censorship of its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, by rerouting viewers to its unfettered Hong Kong site. According to the company’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, the move was “a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced—it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information…
Circumventing India’s radio news ban
Violence against provincial journalists, self-censorship, and the rise of paid news were the leading press freedom concerns cited by editors and journalists that I met with during my recent visit to India. But for Shubhranshu Choudhary, known as Shu, it’s the ban on radio news that most concerns him. He believes the ban is fueling India’s long-simmering Maoist insurgency,…
In India, news for sale
I just returned from India, where I spent a week meeting journalists and discussing press freedom concerns. One issue that emerged during my visit is what is known euphemistically as “paid news.” Many media outlets routinely sell political advertising dressed up as a news article.
Rallying (hesitantly) for reporters abducted in Afghanistan
What can we do to help liberate our colleagues? French journalists have been struggling with this dilemma since December 30, when two reporters of the public service TV channel France 3 and their three Afghan fixers were abducted by a group purportedly linked to the Taliban in the region of Kapisa, in eastern Afghanistan.
Japanese press advocates face 50 lawsuits, broken ribs
Kensuke Nishioka, 42, looked different from the other Japanese journalists I encountered in Tokyo during a February trip. Maybe it was the pink hair. “Don’t believe any journalist who says they’re at risk in Japan,” he declared, shrugging off the time, at age 32, when two members of a nationalist group cornered him in his office, broke his…
Senior Chinese editor forced out for controversial editorial
“Some have commented that this event should go down in media history.” So says Zhang Hong (in English translation on The Wall Street Journal’s China blog today), co-author of an unprecedented joint editorial published last week by 13 Chinese newspapers. The editorials, criticizing the hukou system, which registers individuals in their place of birth and limits their ability to find work and education…