Introduction: The New Face of Censorship
Governments and non-state actors find innovative ways to suppress the media By Joel Simon In the days when news was printed on paper, censorship was a crude practice involving government officials with black pens, the seizure of printing presses and raids on newsrooms. The complexity and centralization of broadcasting also made radio and television vulnerable…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 16, 2017
Wire reporter jailed The Supreme Court of Appeals on April 14 upheld the Second Mardin Court for Serious Crimes’ November 2016 sentence of two years and four months in prison against Meltem Oktay on charges of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” the news website Dihaber reported yesterday.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 9, 2017
Erdoğan vows jailed Die Welt correspondent will never return to Germany Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last night vowed that Die Welt Turkey correspondent Deniz Yücel, a dual citizen of Germany and Turkey would never be allowed to return to Germany so long as he was president, the online newspaper Diken reported.
TV news channel suspended in Thailand
Bangkok, March 27, 2017–Thai media regulators should immediately reverse their suspension of the operating license of Voice TV and should allow the media to broadcast and publish freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Media regulators today suspended the channel’s operating license for seven days.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 26, 2017
Istanbul court orders release, pending trial, of at least 19 journalists Istanbul’s 25th Court for Serious Crimes today ordered the release, pending trial, of at least 19 journalists imprisoned in direct relation for their work following the July 2016 failed military coup, according to news reports. The court did not drop any charges against the…
Deciding who decides which news is fake
Authorities decry the proliferation of misinformation and propaganda on the internet, and technology companies are wrestling with various measures to combat fake news. But addressing the problem without infringing on the right to free expression and the free flow of information is extremely thorny.
Fox TV-Turkey taken off the air in Azerbaijan
Broadcasts of Turkish broadcaster Fox TV-Turkey ceased in Azerbaijan late the night of February 22, 2017, hours after a presenter mocked President Ilham Aliyev’s appointment of his wife as the country’s first vice-president, Azerbaijani and Turkish media reported.
Venezuela suspends CNN en Español broadcasts
New York, February 15, 2017–Venezuela’s state telecommunications regulator Conatel today ordered transmissions of CNN en Español to be suspended in the country, according to reports. A statement from the regulator said that Conatel was initiating administrative proceedings against the Spanish-language channel of CNN, which it said distorted the truth and “attack[ed] the peace and democratic…
O Globo and Folha de S.Paulo ordered to remove reports about Brazil’s First Lady
São Paulo, February 15, 2017–A judge ordered two of Brazil’s biggest national dailies, Folha de S.Paulo and O Globo, to remove stories from their websites about a court case of a hacker convicted of attempted blackmail of Brazil’s first lady, Marcela Temer, according to reports in both papers.