20 Jul 2010 | Uncategorized
The news that Cardiff councillor John Dixon could face disciplinary action after implying in a tweet that the Church of Scientology was “stupid” has caused consternation online. But Scientologists often complain about representations of them in print, broadcast and online (as is their right).
My own experience of this came in winter 2003/2004, when I was working at New Humanist magazine.
We ran an article by young radio journalists Sam Washington and Phil Kemp. Sam and Phil had made an radio documentary about alleged abuse within the Church of Scientology. The programme had won the BBC File on 4 Investigative Journalism Award.
Sam and Phil had been students of New Humanist Associate Editor Sally Feldman, and approached her suggesting they turn their research into a print article. Being a magazine dedicated to critiquing religion, we were happy to accept.
When the Scientologists got wind of the publication, all hell broke loose. The Scientologists repeatedly called the office making demands. They asked for a retraction, and threatened to report us to the Press Complaints Commission; they accused the journalists of skulduggery. They requested we pass on contact details of the two young reporters. When we called File on 4, they told us they had been subjected to a similar barrage after they had recognised Washington and Kemp’s work with the award. At this point, Sam Washington was actually working at File on 4.
Kemp and Washington insisted they had presented their findings to Graeme Wilson, the public affairs director of the Church of Scientology, and offered him an opportunity to make a representation in the article (in which he is quoted).
New Humanist eventually reached an agreement with Wilson, and ran a letter from him in which he variously described Washington and Kemp’s work as “disingenuous”, threw doubt on the reliability of their sources, and talked up the church’s astounding success.
This put New Humanist in an awkward position, as we were publishing a letter casting doubts on our own contributors’ professionalism. We were fortunate that they understood and didn’t leave NH caught between two complaints.
Read the original article, Bridge to Freedom, and Graeme Wilson of the Church of Scientology’s response, here
20 Jul 2010 | Uncategorized
So, I can’t speak for you lot, but I haven’t spent the week reading Peter Mandelson’s diaries. I haven’t compared and contrasted them to Alastair Campbell’s recollections of the same events. I haven’t felt moved to accuse him of betraying everything the Labour party is trying to do, or has ever done. And I haven’t reconsidered my understanding of the last 13 years in the light of his words. What I have done is skim-read about 10,000 newspaper columns in which the writers do one or more of the above. I’ve even skimmed over the meta-articles, in which the writer points out that all the jumping up and down and name-calling provoked by Mandy so far merely serves to prove that he was telling the truth all along.
And the reason I haven’t read his book, or excerpts or his book, or comments on articles about his book is because, if I am absolutely honest, I don’t care. I can’t imagine my view of the last ten years or so of government will be remotely influenced by hearing, again, that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown didn’t get on very well. I’m just not interested anymore. They’re both gone, best of luck to ’em, now can we talk about the something else? Like the fact that my GP is now supposed to be good at all kinds of things beyond doctoring, when I’m not completely sure she’s even up to mustard on that. Or the fact that the BBC might lose its licence fee, even though we will then end up with telly that makes Channel 4 look interesting.
Or we could talk about books which have a real impact in the real world, and not just in the op-ed pages and on the Daily Politics (much as I love it). Alan Shadrake, a freelance journo, has been arrested in Singapore, for writing a book about Singaporean justice. And Singaporean justice seems to be as much of a contradiction in terms as Mandelsonian Loyalty (see how I tricked you into thinking that section was over and then called it right back? I am sneaky beyond belief).
And Shadrake is 75-years-old, has recently recovered from cancer, and has high blood pressure, so being arrested might not be the same walk in the park for him that it might be for you or me. In spite of his illness, he still found time to write Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice In The Dock. He has interviewed the country’s most prolific (is that the word, in this context?) hangman. And he hasn’t snuck away from Singapore like any other person in their right mind would do. He’s stayed there to promote the book, and now he’s been arrested. Arrested and charged with defamation, for which he could be imprisoned for two years.
You might be wondering who he defamed. The country’s most prolific hangman, perhaps? Or a judge? Or a policeman? Wrong every time, sunshine — he’s charged with defaming the country’s judicial system. How can it be possible to defame a system? Has he hurt the feelings of individual lawyers? All of them? And if so, couldn’t they bill someone for an extra hour, cackle softly, and grow the fuck up? I hope Index on Censorship readers will jump up and down and make noise about this: his lawyer hasn’t been allowed to see him yet, and Singapore’s justice system doesn’t need another victim.
20 Jul 2010 | News and features
The US senate last night passed legislation to protect US journalists, writers and publishers from “libel tourists” — litigants who sue Americans in foreign jurisdictions which place a lower emphasis on free speech
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19 Jul 2010 | News and features
British Author Alan Shadrake has been arrested in Singapore for writing a book critical of the city state’s use of the death sentence. Ben Bland reports on the city-states suppression of free speech
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