Indonesia: reporters arrested
Four Dutch journalists were detained whilst covering a demonstration in the eastern province of Papua.
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Regulation of New Media Bill
Tom Harris MP has a report on the UK government’s latest legislation on blogging. The most interesting section of the bill concerns the new regulatory body, BlogOff:
‘But by far the most controversial part of the Bill is the section that demands that, from April 2010, every British blogger will have to submit each post for official approval. My main concern is with regard to the turnaround time; the whole point of blogging could be rendered meaningless or at least blunted if we’re unable to respond timeously to current events. Andy [Burnham], however, managed to reassure me and the House that posts will be approved by the new regulatory body, BlogOff, within about 36 hours.’
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Beating censorship with the 'Way of the Blogs'
As part of the Libel Bind series, a collaboration between Index on Censorship, English PEN and the Guardian‘s Liberty Central, Robert Sharp of English PEN is wondering what the alternative to laws on religious defamation might be. He suggests bloggers might have the answer.
‘Despite the robust nature of much of the debate online, I do perceive a sort of online Omerta, a Way of the Blogs. This states that if you have been offended or disrespected online, you can always fight your corner by setting up a counter-blog somewhere else. The idea is that you do not attempt to suppress the offensive material, legally or otherwise, but instead use the same medium to counter and debunk it.’
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Soap lesbian kiss censored
Australia’s Seven Network has censored a lesbian kissing scene in soap opera Home and Away due to air tonight, after a number of complaints were received. 100,000 viewers have switched off ince the storyline started two weeks ago.
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