#Wikileaks#Assange#PressFreedom#Media#Journalism#USA#UK: "To my mind, Julian Assange is in some ways recognizably a journalist. He’s also a publisher, an entrepreneur, an activist, a whistleblower, an information anarchist and a hacker. That’s true of many of this new breed of net warriors.
But in the work we did together when I was editor of The Guardian and he was editor of WikiLeaks we collaborated on a series of groundbreaking stories which were absolutely journalistic.
However, to many journalists Assange is not a proper “journalist,” and they can’t really see what his fate has to do with theirs. I think that’s a mistake.
This week Assange may learn his fate when judges in the UK High Court consider final representations from lawyers on both sides over the bid to extradite him to the US — where he could face a lengthy spell in a maximum security prison."
#EU#Italy#PressFreedom#RAI#TV#Television#News#Media#Journalism: "An Italian union has called for political parties to be “eliminated from Rai” as journalists with the public broadcaster went on strike in protest against the “suffocating control” allegedly being wielded by Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government over their work.
The ruling coalition has been accused of influencing programming, including censoring themes that are not in tune with its rightwing stance.
The strike on Monday came amid a growing debate in Italy about political influence in the media after Rai was accused of censoring an antifascism monologue that was due to be read on one of its TV talkshows by the high-profile author Antonio Scurati.
“This strike is in response to industrial themes … but also there is an aspect linked to the independence and autonomy of journalists,” Daniele Macheda, the president of Usigrai, the main union representing Rai journalists, told reporters in Rome. “Things have happened in Italy, also recently, that do not give us much hope in [the way] things are going.”
It is WILD how suddenly Al Jazeera is part of a free and fair press when Western leaders have done everything since implementation to discredit it, despite it being the most credible news source of this conflict. #PressFreedom
#Israel#AlJazeera#PressFreedom#Journalism#Media#News: "The government on Sunday voted unanimously in favor of closing the Al-Jazeera TV channel in Israel. The decision authorized the communications minister to order the channel to halt its broadcasts in Israel, in Arabic and English; shutter its offices; have some of its equipment confiscated and restrict access to its website.
In making this anti-democratic decision, Israel took a step down the slippery slope on the way to becoming a country that silences people. Previous governments that closed Al-Jazeera's offices were Egypt and the Gulf countries. In any case, Al-Jazeera shouldn't be shuttered, but doing so may turn out to be only a preface to a policy in which any media outlet, Israeli or international, that the government doesn't like is shut down. That's how it is when there's an extreme right-wing government that has declared war on freedom of expression and on the rule of law in Israel."
I thought #VanessaDougnac had a piece published somewhere in English that did the rounds here and elsewhere when she was forced to leave #India a few months ago, but I can't find it at all now. Does anyone else remember it?
(I can find lots of other stories talking about her departure, some with quotes from a statement she released, but what I thought I saw was a story, rather than a statement—though links to the statement also gratefully received!)🙏🧡
On #WorldPressFreedomDay 2024, the 🇺🇸 has dropped to 55th on RSF’a index. https://rsf.org/en/country/united-states
📰📉”After a sharp increase in 2020, #PressFreedom violations have fallen significantly in the United States, but major structural barriers to press freedom persist in this country, once considered a model for freedom of expression.”
New photo-shoot on World Press Freedom Day ... National Press Club president Emily Wilkins talks with advocates for journalists held hostage: Austin Tice, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva.
Here, Wilkins talks with Stephen Capus, president of RFE/RL, employer of Alsu Kurmasheva.
Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 countries and territories in RSF's 2024 press freedom index
"Once a bastion of press freedom, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China has suffered an unprecedented series of setbacks since 2020, when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices"
Palestinian journalists covering Gaza awarded the 2024 #UNESCO
/ Guillermo Cano World #PressFreedom Prize.
“In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances,” said Mauricio Weibel, chair of the international jury of media professionals, who recommended the winners of the prize.
TikTok CEO #ShouZiChew has said the company will take the fight against the new law to the courts, but some experts believe that for the #US#SupremeCourt, national security considerations could outweigh #FreeSpeech protection.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (#CPJ), at least 97 members of the #press have been killed since the war broke out in October, 92 of whom were #Palestinians. #Israel#Gaza