13 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Hollman Morris, an internationally-renowned Colombian journalist, has been barred from entering the United States to take up a fellowship at Harvard University. His visa application was denied after he was placed on a Patriot Act no-fly list. Morris has previously been publicly lauded by the State Department and Human Rights Watch. His writing has been published around the world, and he has been received by the Pentagon, National Security Council, and the US ambassador in Bogota. The ban is thought to relate to Morris’ interviews with Colombia’s Farc guerillas, although critics have claimed that it stems from the Obama administration’s proximity to Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe, whose government has long been criticised by Morris.
13 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
On 13 July, radio presenter Jon Gaunt, lost his judicial review against Ofcom’s decision to censure him for describing a councillor as a Nazi. Ofcom had found a breach of the broadcasting code after Gaunt accused Redbridge Councillor Michael Stark of being a “Nazi”, “health Nazi” and an “ignorant pig” during a live debate on talkSPORT about a policy banning smokers from becoming foster parents. However, despite the ruling the High Court established significant free speech rights for broadcasters. It recognised that “shock jock” style presenting constitutes political speech and thus must be afforded a great deal of protection. Furthermore, the term “Nazi” could and was used as political slang without denoting a political or ideological position. However, OFCOM’s initial verdict was upheld because Gaunt “lost his rag” and gratuitously offended the councillor by describing him as a an “ignorant pig”. Gaunt intends to appeal the decision.
13 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Two Russians accused of inciting hatred with an art exhibition in Moscow have been found guilty. Andrei Yerofeyev and Yuri Samodurov escaped prison sentences but were fined. Last week 13 prominent Russian artists wrote an open letter to Russian President Dimitry Medvedev asking him to call off the trial on the grounds of the impact it would have on the contemporary art scene. Oleg Kassin, from the ultra-nationalist group which filed the complaint against the “Forbidden Art” exhibition, was quoted as saying “If you like expressing yourself freely, do it at home, invite some close friends”.
13 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Senegalese journalist Najib Sagna has been attacked by four people after claiming that Coumba Gaye, the country’s Deputy Minister for Justice and Human Rights, had recently given birth to an illegitimate son, the result of an extramarital affair with a fellow government minister. Sagna, who identified two of his attackers as relatives of Gaye, was assaulted whilst working to work at Walf Grand Place, a privately-owned newspaper in Dakar.
